Herbert “Herb” Zockoll

Herbert "Herb" Zockoll, age 93, of Lakewood, formerly of Wayne, passed peacefully at home on Sunday, December 12, 2021.

Herb was born at the family home located at 9 Orchard Street in Garfield to Alois and Lena Zockoll.  He graduated from Garfield High School, where he played football and was a member of the WWII Club with the Class of 1945.

Herb spent his entire career in the textile sector, working for Forstmann Woolen Company in Passaic as a dye chemist in their lab.  Herb then moved into sales, becoming one of the top dyestuff and chemical salespeople for Verona Dye Stuffs and Mobay Chemical in Union, NJ, and eventually working for Bayer Corporation, the US-based subsidiary of Bayer AG, out of Pittsburgh, PA.  Herb, covering the Northeast region, became the first salesman to eclipse over $1 million in sales.  Herb was well respected within the industry and was asked on several occasions to speak at corporate functions.  

Throughout his lifetime, he has lived in Garfield, Fanwood, Vernon, Connecticut, Wayne for thirty years, Dunnellon, Florida, Greensboro, NC before moving to Lakewood, NJ over twenty years ago.

Herb will be remembered as a dependable, profound, caring, and quiet person with a strong work ethic. He was dedicated to his Catholic faith and attended Our Lady of Consolation Church in Wayne for many years.

He met the love of his life, Mary Bruno, at a dance in Passaic.  They fell in love and married on June 21, 1952, at Sacred Heart Church in Lyndhurst, NJ.  They honeymooned in Niagara Falls and had an amazing marriage of forty-nine years, blessed with three sons.  Herb dearly loved Mary, and she passed in January of 2001. In a special letter he wrote just a few months after her passing, he said: "As we approach our twilight years, we know Jesus's hand is near. Soon, one of us will be called and taken home on angels wings.  Mary, now dwell in peace, no more pain or fear, your home at last.  My grief and loneliness will also pass when our Savior Jesus calls.  Oh, what joy it will be, together again for all eternity, always and forever."

Herb was always proud that he helped provide first-hand knowledge for Hank Gola's book "City of Champions" with his memories of the 1939 Christmas Night National High School football championship in Miami, Florida.  The game featured the Miami High Stingarees vs. the Garfield High Boilermakers, first-generation immigrants.  The kids in Garfield traveled by train to play at the Orange Bowl in Miami.  Locally many gathered at the Garfield #8 school gym and listened to a recitation of the ticker tape. Still, Herb's cousin Harold had just received a radio for Christmas and, positioned high in the attic, Herb and his cousin listened to a broadcast of the game that Garfield won.  

Herb was predeceased by his wife Mary in January of 2001; he was the devoted father of Robert Zockoll of Leesport, PA, Gary Zockoll of Long Valley, and Kenneth Zockoll of Red Bank; he was the cherished grandfather of Matthew, Anna, Thomas, Douglas, Ava, Sarah, Kyle, Shane, and Gwen.

In lieu of flowers memorial donations to St Jude Children's Research Hospital would be greatly appreciated.