Edward Poplarski, known for being 'New York tough,' dies at 90

Edward Poplarski gets ready for his last week on the job at King Kullen in Massapequa Park last August. Credit: Lynn Petry
“New York tough” is how one of Edward F. Poplarski’s grandsons described him, capturing in just three words one of the central traits of his grandfather’s character — and what so many New Yorkers aspire to be.
Poplarski’s decades-younger co-workers defined him in two words: “The Legend,” his family said.
A first-generation New Yorker, he rose from delivering bread on a bicycle for a South Jamaica, Queens, commercial bakery to running the outfit, Roma Bakery, which served the leading airlines at the three biggest New York–New Jersey airports.
How, with just a diploma from Woodrow Wilson Vocational High School in Queens and the corporal’s stripes he earned serving stateside in the U.S. Army during the Korean War? At a time when college degrees mostly were reserved for the well-to-do?
“Relationships,” said his older son, Greg Poplarski of Carmel, Indiana. “He treated them all the same. He treated them special. It didn’t matter if you were the mayor of the town or the man [driving] the garbage truck — he would know your kids.”
Poplarski, 90, of Massapequa, died of natural causes at a local hospital Sunday, said daughter Lynn Petry of Massapequa, a Newsday researcher who joined the paper 44 years ago.
Until August, her father worked the deli counter at the local King Kullen, which hired him the day he applied — at 80, his children said.
Not only were his qualifications instantly apparent — he had held a similar position at Elmont’s Western Beef supermarket after leaving the bakery in 1989 — he routinely outperformed junior co-workers, his children said.
That's one reason they called him “The Legend”; he also was the sole worker who showed up and worked — tossing spoiled cold cuts — the day after superstorm Sandy hit in 2012, his children said.
For Poplarski, a devout man, a trip to Portugal’s Fatima shrine was especially meaningful, partly because he had learned the language from fellow workers at the bakery. “He taught us the importance of faith. … He taught us the importance of hard work, he taught us the importance of family — the things that really matter,” said son Dr. Jeffrey Poplarski of Amityville, “and he had a great sense of fun.”
His father stayed current, enjoying a Jennifer Lopez concert in Las Vegas, attending "The Price Is Right" game show in Los Angeles, and countless Long Island events, Petry said.
Poplarski was born in Carle Place, and his family soon moved to Jamaica, where a friend introduced him to his future wife, Anna Montefusco, who was working the ticket booth at the Valencia movie theater. They were married in 1951, Petry said.
“She said she took one look into his blue eyes and she was a goner,“ his daughter said. Theirs was a happy union of nearly six decades before she died.
“That was his pride and joy; his kids and his wife,” Jeffrey Poplarski said.
On Long Island, the family lived across the street from another legend: Ron Turcotte, who guided Secretariat to the Triple Crown. Card-playing, game-show-loving Poplarski also was a horse racing fan who “always shook the hands of the jockeys at Belmont;” and at Saratoga, the jockeys called him “Pop,” his daughter said.
In addition to his children, Poplarski is survived by grandchildren, Drew Edward and Jack Henry, both of Carmel, Indiana.
A private service is planned Saturday at Amityville’s Powell Funeral home. Interment will be at Pinelawn Memorial Park, and a memorial will be held later.
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