John J. Carroll, who worked on lunar module, dies

John J. Carroll, an engineer who was part of the Grumman team that worked on the landing craft that took astronauts to the moon's surface, died this week after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 82.

Carroll died Wednesday at Broadlawn Manor, a nursing and rehabilitation center in Amityville, where he had been since December, said his wife, Elaine Carroll of Seaford.

Grumman's Lunar Excursion Module, known as the LEM, was built at the company's Bethpage facility in the 1960s to the early '70s, and Carroll was part of the team that worked on the landing craft, said his family and former bosses.

"He was a marvelous person and a capable person," said Saul Ferdman, 86, of Woodbury. "His loss is very, very sad."

Jack Bierwirth, 86, of Lawrence, who was Grumman's chairman from 1974 to 1988, said Carroll was not only a capable employee but he was one of those people who made Grumman a caring company.

"When a problem came up, Jack Carroll was the fellow you want to have around to discuss it with," Bierwirth said.

Born on Jan. 22, 1928, in Jersey City, Carroll graduated from Seton Hall Preparatory School and Seton Hall University, both in New Jersey.

In his last year at college, Carroll met his future wife, Elaine, who was working as a secretary at NBC in Manhattan. On Fridays after work, he met her in front of Hotel Astor in Times Square for dinner and afterward escorted her, via the subway, to her parents' home in Elmhurst, Queens. Then, Carroll took the subway back to Manhattan, the train to Jersey City and then a trolley to his home. The round-trip commute was 2 1/2 to three hours, Elaine said.

The courtship went on like that for about a year and a half.

"Finally he said, 'Why don't we get married. I can't keep this up,' " Elaine Carroll said.

In Elaine's mother's kitchen, Carroll pulled out a jewelry box and proposed.

"He said 'This is for you,' " Elaine recalled.

The pair married in 1951, shortly after Carroll graduated from Seton Hall. The couple moved to Elmhurst, Queens, and in 1954 moved to Seaford, where they raised five children. At around the same time, Carroll came to work for Grumman Corp.

In addition to his wife, Carroll is survived by four sons: Kevin, of Ridgefield, Conn.; Shaun, of Garden City; Colin, of Old Lyme, Conn.; and Terence, of Seaford; a daughter, Maura Switzer, of Chatham, N.J.; a sister, Barbara Maybrey, of Spring Lake, N.J.; and seven grandchildren.

A wake will be held Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at William E. Law Funeral Home in Massapequa.

A funeral is scheduled for Monday at 10:45 a.m. at Maria Regina Catholic Church in Seaford. Burial will be at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale.

In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan and Good Shepherd Hospice In Melville.