OBITUARY -- Joseph B. Grosch Sr.,

    Joseph B. Grosch Sr., 93, passed away on Wednesday November 16, 2011, at home in Millington, N.J., surrounded by his loving family.
    Relatives and friends were invited to attend the Funeral Mass at St. Peter’s Church, Belleville on Saturday. Interment private. Visitation was held at O’Boyle Funeral Home, 309 Broad Street, Bloomfield
    Raised in Belleville, Joseph Grosch attended St. Peter's grammar school and graduated from Belleville High School in 1936. He worked for the Civil Conservation Corps and Delco Battery before attending Montclair State College where he captained the basketball and baseball teams while also serving as class president in 1943.
    After graduating Montclair State in January of 1943, he received his naval officer's training at the University of Notre Dame. He became an Ensign during World War II and trained amphibious drivers in Coronado, California. He sailed with the Seventh Fleet to the Surrender of Japan in August 1945. While on occupation duty in Japan, his unit coordinated personnel decisions with General MacArthur's staff.
    He began his teaching career at Belleville High School in 1946, where he taught math and coached the JV basketball and baseball teams. Mr. Grosch remained in the Naval Reserve and was called back to the Korean Conflict in 1950, earning a battle star for his participation in the invasion of Inchon. He returned to teach at Number 7 school in Belleville where he coached basketball and baseball. While teaching, he also earned his MBA from New York University. Mr. Grosch taught at Number 4 school in Belleville until 1962 when he was appointed principal at Number 9 school. From 1962 until 1986, he was the prinicipal at Number 9, Number 7 and Number 1 schools.
    Mr. Grosch was in the Naval Reserve from 1946 through 1969. From 1961 until 1969, he was the Commanding Officer for the US Naval Reserve unit in Clifton , NJ. During his duties as a Naval Officer Reservist in the summers, he wrote procedures for anti-submarine warfare, aiding America in the Cold War. He retired as a Naval Commander.
    Always civic minded, he was president of the Belleville Varsity Club and the Belleville Lions Club in the 1960s. During the 1970s, he was president of the Essex County Prinicipals Association. He was elected to the Montclair State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1979 for basketball and baseball.
    Mr. Grosch was the husband of the late Adell Ann Kleinknecht Grosch; father of Patricia Throckmorton and her late husband, John, of Bedminster, N.J.; Joseph B. Grosch Jr. and his wife, Lynn, of San Pedro, Calif., and Nicholas T. and his wife, Gina Allaire of Colonia, N.J. He was the son of the late Michael and Mary Grosch; brother of the late Dorothy Frasier, Shirley Richardson, and Thomas and Billy Grosch; brother-in-law of Doris Denning and Elma Munster; grandfather of Cheryl, Jack, James and Tara Throckmorton and Kerry and Kathryn Grosch. He is also survived by nine great-grandchildren.
    For those who wish, in lieu of flowers, donation may be made to the Multiple Sclerosis Society.