Joel J. Sterling, 85, businessman, dies

Joel J. Sterling was a successful businessman who founded his own company and later headed his family's Long Island-based insurance firm. He also was an outdoorsman and traveler, who saw the world by ground, air and sea.

Sterling, a 40-year resident of Roslyn Estates, died of colon cancer on Friday. He was 85.

"He was one of the kindest people you ever met," said his son David Sterling of Muttontown. "He never had an unkind word for anybody."

Born in Astoria, Queens, in 1926, Joel Sterling served as an airplane mechanic during World War II, stationed in Trinidad.

"He had a perfect record," his son said of the warplanes his father worked on. "They never had a crash."

After the war, Sterling earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at the City College of New York. In 1952, he launched Sterling Transformer, an electrical manufacturing company.

In 1958, after moving to the Roslyn area, he joined Sterling & Sterling, his father Jonah's Westbury insurance company. He rose to chairman before retiring in 1989.

He was an avid yachtsman and longtime member of the Knickerbocker Yacht Club, serving as its commodore. He also led the club's Roundtable, a group that gathered weekly to discuss current events. After the club closed two years ago, Sterling continued to lead the discussion group at the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club.

Sterling participated in sailboat races and won the historic Newport Bermuda Race in 1978.

"His proudest moment was when he navigated using just a sextant and the stars, beating 200 boats," his son said of the race.

As an octogenarian, Sterling remained an active swimmer at Eisenhower Park's Aquatic Center. He also enjoyed playing tennis and skiing all over the world, including Canada, Italy and France.

"He really had a great life," David Sterling said.

The funeral will be held Sunday at noon at Gutterman's Funeral Home in Woodbury. He will be buried in Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing.

He is survived by his wife, Tinette, of Roslyn Estates; two other sons, Michael, of Atlanta, and Philip, of Plainview; a brother, Daniel, of Lake Success; and 13 grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Hospice Care Network in Woodbury.