Francis Xavier Lowder

Francis "Frank" Xavier Lowder of Pasadena, MD, formerly of Lyndhurst, NJ died on July 20, 2006 in Baltimore, MD. Son of Mark and Catherine (Oroho) who were children of Irish immigrants, he was the youngest of three sons. He attended St. Patrick's Grammar School and Franklin K. Lane and Alexander Hamilton High Schools. In 1942 he enlisted in the US Navy and served as a radioman on the cruiser Savannah. After the war he married Lyndhurst native Elizabeth Farina in 1948. He worked at Becton Dickinson in East Rutherford as a Production Planner for 30 years, retiring in 1979. Frank was a member of the American Legion Post #139 and the Knights of Columbus. For many years he ran the Lyndhurst youth basketball and football programs and is credited with starting the town's first soccer league. Baseball was his first love and he taught the fundamentals of the game to two generation of Lyndhurst's youth. He started coaching in the early 1950s as an assistant with Wilson & Co. He was soon given his own team to manage and began a life long association with Arnold DeMassi and the team that bore his name. His coaching career ended in the 1990s, winning his last town championship with Stellato's in 1992. He is survived by his beloved son and daughter-in-law Gerard and Diane Lowder and cherished grandchildren Lindsay, Brendan and Benjamin Lowder. Also surviving are a niece, Sharon Aceste and her husband, Anthony and great nephew, Anthony Aceste. Funeral Wednesday 8AM from the Ippolito-Stellato Funeral Home, 425 Ridge Rd., Lyndhurst. Funeral Mass 9AM Sacred Heart R.C. Church. Interment Hillside Cemetery. Friends will be received Tuesday 2-4 & 7-9PM.