Obituary of John Richard Rowin

John Richard Rowin, 78, of Oakland, New Jersey, passed away peacefully at home on April 2, 2025. A celebration of life service will take place at Oakland Memorial Home on April 10, 2025. The visitation will be held from 4:00 – 6:30 p.m., followed by a Catholic ceremony and eulogies from family and friends from 6:30 – 7:00 p.m.

“Big John,” who stood an imposing 6’4” tall, was born in Orange, NJ on December 20, 1946. He lived in the Roseville section of Newark with his parents and three siblings and was very proud of his Polish heritage. He graduated from Jersey Prep High School in Newark and later obtained a BS in Business Administration from Ramapo College. He was a member of the Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights drum corps from 1962-1967 and he treasured the friends he made through the corps. He had a passion for drum and bugle music and often could be found in the basement with giant 80’s headphones on listening to old records of a World Championship or Grand Prix, getting animated by each crescendo and reminiscing about days gone by. It was through the Golden Knights that he met his wife of 57 years, Elaine (Ryan) Rowin, marrying in 1967 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Oakland, NJ, where they lived and raised their family. According to Elaine, the reception was one to remember with an over-enthusiastic guest almost knocking over the wedding cake that was then saved by a bridesmaid with particularly fast reflexes.

John was hired as a Foreman at the Ford Motor Company plant in Mahwah, NJ and, after that plant closed, transferred to the Edison, NJ plant where he was a Superintendent, Materials Management. Working under his father-in-law, Edward Ryan, he quickly learned the ways of the plant and was only almost fired once by Ed. He was a fixture at the plant driving around the massive building in his golf cart, with linemen waiving at him and calling out “Aye Big John-NAY!” His commutes were long, and he typically worked the night shift, but he still found time to serve on the Oakland Zoning Board and as a somewhat ruthless Campaign Manager for Elaine’s successful mayoral campaign.

In his spare time, he spent many years serving as a judge for drum corps competitions and could be found in his bright blue EMBA officiant shirt and navy hat weaving in and around the field with his little handheld voice recorder pressed to his mouth giving running commentary for the teams. He loved the pageantry of drum corps and relished providing his expertise and guidance to the next generation. He could be found down in Wildwood, NJ every first weekend in June at the annual Elks parade, having a raucous time taking over a motel with his judging friends and their families for a weekend filled with late nights and laughs. All men of similar girth, one summer they indeed discovered that an all you can eat buffet was not really “all you can eat” as they were asked to leave one establishment after a particularly rowdy and indulgent dinner that cleaned out all the snow crab legs. But Wildwood was truly his “special place,” and he continued to return every year to vacation with friends and family. There, he could be found either sitting on a chair at the beach with socks to his knees, cruising the boardwalk to sample all the treats, or playing in his annual mini golf competition with Elaine (which was definitely taken a little too seriously some years). After drum corps, he discovered a passion for judging road bike races and served as an adjudicator for the U.S. Cycling Federation with his best friend, Noel. A member of the Fair Lawn and Hawthorn Gun Clubs, he was also an expert target shooter and enjoyed spending his evenings at Gun Club. Some nights he’d come home with a target sheet with a tight shot grouping to show off with the same pride as a student with an A+ report card.

In his later years, he relished sitting at the local Burger King in Oakland with his coffee club having old man arguments about everything from politics to pop culture events, with his other best friend, Ralph Sr., joyfully stirring the pot. The coffee club continued to meet even during covid- setting up socially distanced chairs in a parking lot and continued to argue, just at a higher volume to cover the distance (or deafness) between them. He enjoyed spending long hours in his yard picking up sticks and raking leaves and chatting up his neighbor, Anthony. John never met a yard sale he didn’t like and often came home with a lot of “interesting” good deals that he found, gifting the unique finds to his family. He had stunningly good penmanship and always wrote cards for his loved ones on special occasions. He loved getting his scratch offs at Krauser’s, eating Polish food and ice box cake, and enjoyed breakfasts at Dee’s Luncheonette in Hawthorne talking with all the waitresses and other patrons. Never one short on conversation, he made friends everywhere he went- even having a Chinese woman at a restaurant once raving about his large “lucky earlobes”- a sign of prosperity and longevity in their culture. But that was Big John for you- he couldn’t be ignored- so big in stature, personality, and heart, he was.

He is dearly missed by his wife, Elaine Rowin, and will be waiting for her with fresh flowers. He was immensely proud of his son, Bryan (Stephanie), and daughter, Erin. Always their #1 fan, he will be watching over and rooting hard for his eight grandchildren: Connor, Cooper, Carter, MacKenzie, Madelyn, and Morgan Rowin, and Trot and Elle Yezza.