Obituary of Joel Opatut

Joel Opatut, 82, of West End past away Saturday, September 23, 2006 at home. Mr. Opatut was born in Szadek, Poland. He and three brothers survived the Holocaust. Mr. Opatut together with his wife Frances and son Abe arrived in the United States in 1949. He and his brothers purchased a chicken farm in Freehold which became Colonial Foods, Inc. He was the chairman of Colonial Foods/Colonial Marketing Associates, Freehold Township and a director of American Planned Communities. Mr. Opatut was a member of Temple Beth El, Oakhurst; a benefactor of the Frances Opatut Junior High School, Lakewood; the donor of the Joel Opatut Cardiac Care Center at Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch; a benefactor of an orphanage in Beer Sheva, Israel; a member of the U.S. Committee for Sports in Israel; a member of the Founders Club of Mount Sinai Hospital, Miami Beach, Florida; a past board member of the Monmouth Medical Center Foundation; a founder of Congregation Sons of Israel, Lakewood; and a supporter of Israel Bonds. Opatut Park in Freehold Township was named in honor of his donation of 136 acres of land to the township. Mr. Opatut and his family were the underwriters of the restoration of the Szadek, Poland cemetery where his family members were buried. His wife, Frances Opatut, past away in 1977. Surviving are a son, Abraham S. Opatut and his wife Susan, Freehold Township; two daughters, Arlene Hammer and her husband Bernard, Lakewood, and Toby Rofsky and her husband Steven, Freehold Township; his grandchildren and their spouses, Sarah Beth and Jason, Peter and Alene, Farrah, Michelle and Yankie, Phillip, Nathan, Marc; a great granddaughter, Eliana; and a friend, Rachel Troper. Funeral services will be held at the Higgins Memorial Home, 20 Center Street, Freehold on Monday at 12:30 P.M. followed by interment at Beth Israel Memorial Park, Woodbridge. Memorial donations may be made to Joel Opatut Cardiac Rehabilitation Center at Monmouth Medical Center, Radiology-Oncology Department at Monmouth Medical Center, or Hazalah of Jersey Shore. Shiva will be observed at his late residence in West End.