Jerome Ventura, Marine from LI, dies at 23

Initially, Bill Ventura was uncertain about his oldest son's decision to become a Marine.

"I'm not a veteran myself, so it just wasn't my first option for him," Ventura, 53, a Newsday pressman from Holtsville said of his son, Jerome.

But after seeing him in uniform the first time, Bill Ventura knew his son would make a great Marine.

"The minute that uniform was slapped on him, he stood taller," Ventura said, recalling his son's Marine graduation ceremony two years ago at Parris Island, S.C.

Cpl. Jerome Ventura, who enlisted Christmas Eve of 2008, died April 23 after being found unconscious at his on-base living quarters at the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in California, family said. He was 23.

Bill Ventura said a cause of death has yet to be determined. Naval Criminal Investigative Service personnel at the San Diego air station are investigating, a Marine spokesman said Monday.

An aviation supply specialist with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Jerome Ventura and his wife, Erin, went to breakfast early that Saturday morning, came back to their apartment and took a nap, Bill Ventura said.

"She woke up, rolled over and found him unresponsive, with labored breathing," he said.

Jerome Ventura was pronounced dead at San Diego's Sharp Memorial Hospital.

Bill Ventura said his son was going to Briarcliffe College when he decided to pursue a career path through the military.

"He looked at it and just thought he could both serve his country and get his education paid for," Ventura said. "He was a proud Marine."

Jerome Ventura, who graduated from Sachem East High School in 2006, was a typical kid, his father said, interested in sports, particularly soccer and tae kwon do -- in which he had a black belt -- and reading.

"When he did something, whether riding his bike or competing in martial arts, he wanted to be the absolute best at it," Bill Ventura said.

Survivors include his wife, Erin, of Holtsville, whom he married in December; his mother, Cynthia; brothers William and Dylan; and grandparents Ron Bretz and Margaret Bretz of Vernon, N.J.

Visitation is Wednesdayand Thursday at Moloney Family Funeral Homes, Lake Ronkonkoma. A funeral Mass is 11 a.m. Friday at the Church of the Resurrection, Farmingville, followed by burial at Calverton National Cemetery.