Thomas Vermaelen

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Former Staten Islander Thomas Vermaelen of Drums, Pa., a salesman in the steel industry, died Tuesday in the Hospice of the Sacred Heart, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., of cancer. His age was 71.

Born in Manhattan, he was reared in Great Kills and West Brighton. He relocated to Pennsylvania in 1996.

He graduated from St. Peter's Boys High School in New Brighton, where he ran track. He took his bachelor's of science degree from the former St. Michael's College, now the Santa Fe (N.M.) University of Art and Design.

Mr. Vermaelen worked as an inside steel salesman for various companies until his retirement in 1988.

In his leisure hours, he played the drums, a pastime he enjoyed for more than 50 years, and since his retirement he had been restoring a 1968 Chevrolet Nova, for which he built a custom grille.

As a member of the U.S. Air Force, Mr. Vermaelen was stationed at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey.

Mr. Vermaelen was a parishioner of Good Shepherd R.C. Church in Drums.

He is survived by his wife of 43 years, the former Judith Judge; his two sisters, Elizabeth Vermaelen and Frances Brennan, and several nieces and nephews.

The funeral will be Saturday from the Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home, with a mass at 10 a.m. in Our Lady Help of Christians R.C. Church, both Tottenville. Burial will follow in Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains.

Services: Saturday August 18,2012 , 10:00 AM a mass of Christian Burial at Our Lady Help of Christian's R.C. Church. Burial will follow at Resurrestion Cemetery.

Visitation: Friends will be received on Friday August 17,2012 from 2-4 & 7-9 PM.

Cemetery: Resurrection Cemetery (Staten Island)

Location: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home

Church: Our Lady Help of Christians R.C.Church