A Kid from the Tenements Taught Himself Success

From humble beginnings to living the American Dream, Joseph Paul Sikoryak (1933-2026) built a loving family and found prosperity in real estate by way of a career in education. A retired resident of Middletown NJ, he died at home of complications from a stroke on October 21st.

Born in Manhattan NY at the height of the Great Depression on a snowy January 28th, Joe’s path might not seem auspicious. He grew up in a one-room apartment behind his family’s grocery store with parents Michael and Mary and three siblings David, Dorothy and Marion. Early academic achievement led to placement at Stuyvesant High School, and to him making the unexpected choice to study Commerce at The University of Alabama. He followed with a short stint in the US Army Quartermaster Corps. Clipboard in hand, the first lieutenant scanned the secretarial pool and met his future wife of 54 years, Eleanor Kaschak.

Relocating to her hometown of Manville NJ, Joe found employment as an elementary school teacher, summertime milkman, and journeyman reading specialist. He honed his new teaching skills as the proud father of three precocious sons, Joseph Jr., Steven and Robert, and quickly advanced to Middlesex County College as a tenured English professor. He enjoyed performing and expounding before a captive audience of eager students for nearly three decades until retirement in 1995.

His flexible schedule and relentless work ethic enabled him to juggle grading papers with property management. Joe first dabbled in real estate buying Elliott’s Lodge in Dunellen in 1970 and graduated to a pair of rooming houses and three apartment complexes in New Jersey and Florida. Widowed in 2011, Joe remarried in 2012 to Madelyn Kornblatt and split his residence between both states. A lifelong learner, he maintained a healthy lifestyle of walking, swimming, good nutrition and cheering his beloved college football team. Roll Tide!

Joe is survived by his wife of 14 years, three sons and daughters-in-law, five grandchildren and their spouses, two sisters, and an extended family of cousins, nephews and nieces.

There will be no public memorial service, but in lieu of flowers, donations in his name to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund are welcomed.