Joseph G. Loza
Joseph Gonzalo Loza passed away Friday, Feb. 14, 2014, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern. He was 95 and had been a resident of Monroe for 60 years.
Joseph, also known affectionately as “JGL,” was born March 27, 1918, to Antonia and Moises Tomas Loza.
He graduated from the Universadad Catolica in Quito, Ecuador. He worked as a minister of civil engineering in Esmeralda, Ecuador, before moving to the United States.
Earning a postgraduate fellowship to the University of Wisconsin, it is there that he met his future wife, Florence Kautz, and they married in Brooklyn on Oct. 24, 1948.
Mr. Loza moved his young family to Orange County in the early 1950’s to build the Harriman leg of Interstate 87.
Working more than 30 years as a structural engineer for the Port of Authority of NY & NJ, his expertise was in dry docks and foundations, including work on the “bathtub” foundation of the former World Trade Center.
He spent 20 of the 30 years designing and building Battery Park City, an area once part of the Hudson River.
He retired from the Port Authority in 1986.
He had a flair for foreign languages and math, was the captain of his soccer team in college and could dance the Tango.
Most of all, he loved family visits for holidays and celebrations.
He is predeceased by his beloved wife, Florence and son Peter Loza and sister Leonor Loza Jimenez.
Surviving are his children: Leonard Loza of New Paltz, Madeleine Mallon and Andrew Loza of Monroe and Antonia De Luise; and granddaughter Alexandra of Montville, NJ.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 12:15 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, at Sacred Heart Church, 26 Still Road, Monroe. Interment will follow at St. Anastasia Cemetery, Harriman.
A memorial service is planned for early spring.
The family asks that any memorial contributions be made to the Monroe Volunteer Ambulance, 100 Ramapo Ave., or Sacred Heart Church, 26 Still Road, Monroe, NY 10950, in Joseph Loza’s name.
Funeral arrangements have been made by Smith, Seaman & Quackenbush, Inc. Funeral Home. For more information, call 845-782-8185 or visit online at www.ssqfuneralhome.com.