Joseph Raymond Brostek, St. Andrew Avellino parishioner for 50 years, who was a Lector, Pastoral Council member, Parish Communications Chair, Editor of the monthly Andrean bulletin and the parish’s historian passed away on March 25. He was 87.

Brostek was married for 56 years and is predeceased by his wife Carol (Heiser), who died in 2012.

He was born in Manhattan on May 12, 1932 to the late Joseph and Mae Brostek.

In 1950, Brostek graduated from Xavier High School, where he learned the Jesuit credo of “Men for Others”. He would live the rest of his life embodying these values.  He attended Queens College (Class of 1955 – B.A. Economics) where he met his future wife at the Catholic Newman Club. He held many roles including Student Body President, Phi Omega Alpha Fraternity President, and Commander of the Campus USAF ROTC unit.

He had successful tenures in sales, event coordination and public relations at companies such as the Continental Can Company (CCC), RCA and General Electric. In 1988, he returned to Queens College as Executive Director of Events and Alumni Affairs. He retired in 2010 after 22 years of service.

Brostek spent most of his childhood in Queens Village. After college and marriage, he and Carol lived in Topeka, K.S., while he served in the USAF Strategic Air Command. In 1957, they returned to New York and settled in Flushing to raise their family.

Due to the pandemic, a private burial took place in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Flushing under the direction of Quinn-Fogarty Funeral Home.