George A. Mercurio, 94, loved the great outdoors

The Shinnecock Inlet was one of George Anthony Mercurio's favorite places. After his death Sept. 3, his family held a private memorial service along the water and said they hope to put up a bench with a plaque bearing his name along the rock-lined inlet.

"My dad was an avid fisherman. He loved fishing," said one of his daughters, Joy Regula of Aquebogue.

Mercurio, a master carpenter who learned his craft from his father, died in Southampton Hospital at the age of 94.

He ran a furniture refinishing and upholstery business in East Quogue until he sold it and moved to Alaska in 1969. His family described him as an avid hunter and fisherman who loved the wide open spaces of the 49th state and who would often stay out in the wilderness until the bitter winter forced him back to civilization.

He first got a job with the Alaska State Housing Authority, working as a construction supervisor in remote Native villages and teaching the people how to build houses.

"He was Zorba the Greek," said another daughter, Terez Limer of upstate Hanncroix. "When he felt Long Island became too settled, even out on the east end, he moved to Alaska. That was the place of his heart, where he could be totally free."

Mercurio, who was born and grew up in Philadelphia, enlisted in the 103rd National Guard Calvary, and transferred to the Air National Guard in 1937. He was honorably discharged in 1938.

After he and his wife moved to East Quogue, he joined the Civil Air Patrol, and flew anti-submarine reconnaissance out of Westhampton Beach during World War II.

Mercurio returned to Long Island from Alaska in 2009 and moved in with his daughter, Joy Regula.

Mass for Mercurio was said at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Philadelphia, and after cremation his ashes were interred in Westminster Ceremony in Philadelphia.

Regula said the family held a private service Sept. 9 on the west side of Shinnecock Inlet, near where Mercurio loved to fish on the rocks that line the channel connecting Shinnecock Bay to the Atlantic Ocean.

She said the family has been talking to Suffolk County about installing a bench in the area in their father's honor.

Mercurio was predeceased by his parents, four brothers, three sisters and his former wife, Joyce Burton, who died in 2008.

Besides his daughters Joy and Terez, he is survived by two sons, Nicholas, of Riverhead, and George, and a daughter, Diane Koval, of Selkirk, N.Y.