Robert Howard, Northport's former top cop

Even after more than a decade off the police force, Robert Howard was still known around Northport Village as "chief."

Howard, who had served as police chief for 20 years, died Tuesday after emergency surgery for an aneurysm. He was 70.

On Wednesday, Howard's friends and family remembered him as a gregarious, dedicated man who played the bagpipes and loved to travel with his wife of 43 years, Maureen.

Howard was born on March 15, 1941, in Bayside, Queens. He attended St. Francis Preparatory School in Brooklyn and then spent four years in the Air Force, said Peter Howard, one of his three sons.

Robert Howard joined the former New York City Transit Police in 1964, then left for the Northport Police Department a year later, said Peter Howard, who himself is a police officer in the village.

His father often joked about how police work in the then-rural village was so different from the demands of the city, Peter Howard said.

"One of his first calls down there was . . . to respond down to the local beach to save a seagull with an arrow in it," Peter Howard said.

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But Northport had its share of serious police work -- culminating perhaps most famously with the 1984 drug-fueled murder of a teen in what was originally thought to be a satanic ritual gone bad, a case Robert Howard oversaw.

Howard also discovered that the state had been paving roads on Long Island with substandard materials, causing multiple accidents. Howard's complaints led to a state investigation and road repairs.

"Due to his vigilance, he saved numerous lives," Peter Howard said.

Never one to fully retire, Howard became daytime manager at Pumpernickels Restaurant in Northport after leaving the police force in 2000.

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"He loved it. He loved people. Everybody loved Bob," said Pumpernickels owner and longtime friend Arthur Glad. "Bob Howard was your friend. Even if he wasn't your friend, he was just there for everybody."

Ric Bruckenthal, who took over as police chief when Howard retired, called his predecessor a "larger-than-life figure."

"He was a great person to work for," Bruckenthal said. "Easy to work for, but demanding at the same time."

In addition to his wife and son, Howard is survived by two more sons, Robert Howard, of Greenlawn, and Michael Howard, of Center Moriches; brothers Donald Howard, of Yonkers, and Joseph Howard, of New Jersey; sister Mary Siemborski, of New Jersey; and five grandchildren.

A wake will be held Thursday from 1 to 4 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. at Brueggemann Funeral Home in East Northport. A funeral Mass will be celebrated Friday at 10 a.m. at St. Philip Neri Church in Northport.

Burial will be at Calverton National Cemetery.