- Date Of Birth: October 18, 1936
- Date Of Death: January 14, 2022
- State: New Jersey
James (Jim) John Markano, October 18, 1936 – January 14, 2022.
James was the first of three children born to James J. Markano, Sr. and Muriel Markano. He attended Highland Park High School, where he lettered in track and graduated in 1953. He joined the Air Force and served at Lackland AFB (Air Force Base) in San Antonio, Texas and at Maguire AFB in New Jersey until 1957. He was very proud of his service to his country.
He was trained in IBM mainframe computers and worked for ITT in Paramus, then CBS Television in Manhattan. He was married to Alice Vetter of New Milford, NJ in 1962. He, Alice and Alice’s daughter settled for a short time in Lodi, NJ then River Edge. They had one son and settled in New Milford, NJ.
Jim was very physically active his entire life. In the 1960s and 1970’s the family could be found in their boat in Raritan Bay, off Far Rockaway, NY or off Fire Island boating and water skiing. In 1970 he went into business for himself doing home improvements, remodeling home additions and subcontracting for Sears Installations. He continued to work repairing garage doors, tracks, springs, and motors at least 3 days a week, 4 hours a day until he was hospitalized. In 1975, he and Alice were divorced. In 1984 he married Claire Lucas of Highland Park, NJ who had 4 children from a previous marriage. They had a weekend house on Lake Wallenpaupack, PA. He owned a boat and several jet skis. He continued to slalom water ski into his mid 60’s. In 2004 he and Claire divorced but remained friends. In the late 1980’s he mended fences with his son after a period of estrangement. His sons’ love of working on old cars was an interest they shared and brought them back together. Jim was very mechanically inclined and had always worked on his own vehicles and had a fondness for early Mustangs. He traveled with his father in 1990 to southern California and bought several Mustangs, had them shipped to New Jersey and restored them. In all he completed 14 complete Mustang restorations. He also helped his son restore his GTO convertible, of which he was very proud of, which was a Silver Concourse winner at the 1999 GTO Association of America.
Jim did not know how to sit still. He was very aware of staying fit and walked, and did chin-ups, sit ups and push-ups every day. He was happiest when there was a problem to solve or something to fix. Jim came from a family of long-lived individuals; of his parents and grandparents only two passed before reaching 95.
Jim leaves behind a son, Keith and his wife Mara Lynn, a brother, Ed, and two grandsons, Daniel and Ian.
