Joseph J. Spletzer

Joseph J. Spletzer, age 89, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, June 2, 2020, at Manor Care Health Services in King of Prussia, after a valiant struggle against the Wuhan virus. He was born June 10, 1930, in Brooklyn, to Joseph and Charlotte (Klicki) Spletzer. He was a 1948 graduate of Brooklyn Preparatory High School, and a 1952 graduate of Georgetown University. Joe entered the Army in January of 1953 and, during the Korean War, served honorably at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, where he helped develop weapons designed to defeat America’s enemies. It was during this service that he developed his lifelong love for minerals and fossils. After the war, he became a prospector and explored the deserts of Utah and Arizona, digging for gold and silver. He married Lucy Zerr on January 29th, 1963. Joe worked as a dealer in minerals and fossils, owned his own jewelry store at the Bazaar of all Nations in Clifton Heights, and worked as a bridge operator for Conrail. Joe lived life to the fullest and spent his later years doing what he loved most – visiting his nine children and eighteen grandchildren, fishing, and buying and selling fossil and mineral specimens. His children’s successes in school and in life were always a source of tremendous pride for him. He treasured family vacations in Danbury, Connecticut, which included fishing idyllic Candlewood Lake and taking his kids on hikes to its legendary trout stream. As a passionate rock hound, Joe met and forged friendships with some surprising people, including eight-foot-two-inch Don Koehler – then the world’s tallest man – and Sasha Siemel, AKA the “Tiger Man”, a world famous adventurer, known for traveling the Amazon and facing down man-eating jaguars while armed with nothing but a spear. Joe was loquacious by nature and, while relishing his all-important second cup of coffee, liked nothing better than to sit down with someone he’d just met and tell them his family’s collective life stories. He is survived by his children: Maria, David (Max), Michael, Kathleen, John, Stephen, Chris, and Annina; his daughters-in-law: Sarah, Beng, Petya, and Dawn; son-in-law, Tom; grandchildren: Ava, Haley, Devi, Erika, Lorelei, Andrew, Sean, Sophia, Krista, John, William, Oliver, Chris, Holly, Kalina, Theodore, Alexander, and Fiona; as well as siblings: Claire, Miriam, Paul, Philip; and too many cousins, nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews to count. He was preceded in death by his wife, Lucy Spletzer, and by a daughter, Ramona T. Spletzer. Services will be private for the family and those who were genuinely touched by Joe’s life. Arrangements are by the Bacchi Funeral Home & Crematory, Ltd., Bridgeport, PA. Condolences to the family at www.bacchifh.com