Stephen Alan Fink, 80, born in Queens, NY, passed away on June 4th, 2023. He was born November 26th, 1942, to Morton and Gertrude Fink.
Stephen grew up in Rhode Island where his dad was a Professor at RISD. He had the most unusual upbringing since his father was an actual genius & his mother, a former Coney Island beauty pageant finalist, became schizophrenic when he was a young boy. As a young entrepreneur he ran an ice cream truck amongst many other ventures. Stephen was an avid stamp and coin collector. Stephen received his letters in fencing and was an all-state champion of chess and tennis.
Stephen served in the U.S. Army from 1967-1969. He was stationed in Germany as a Chaplain’s Assistant for the Rabbi during the Vietnam war where the greatest adventure of his life began. On a train from Germany to Holland, he met a 19yo Dutch girl named Fokkelien. That phenomenal journey lasted for 54 years.
Upon arriving in the US with his wife, Stephen attended Boston University where he earned his BSBA degree. He later received his MBA from Bernard Baruch in NYC. They lived in Queens and then Staten Island for years when their daughter Evelyn was born in 1974. In 1979, Fokkelien became a builder, and they built their house together in Roxbury, NJ. In 1981 their daughter Heather was born. The 4 house development where they built their family home was named Sheffinks Landing, each letter of Shef for the family’s first names.
Stephen worked in sales for many years, selling the first color copier on Wall Street when he worked for Xerox in the 1970s. He went on to sell mainframe computers for Data General and later software at Online Software in the 1980s. In 1985 he formed his own company, Water Sciences Inc, a small operation out of the family home.
Working from home allowed for the teamwork of raising their girls once Fokkelien began working in business in NYC. Stephen took great pride in cooking elaborate dishes with ingredients from his gigantic backyard garden. A proud entrepreneur, he created water filtration systems, water ionizers, chlorine free pool environments, and homeopathic medicines and endeavored to expand green windmill energy in America just before he had a debilitating stroke.
For 13 years Stephen was trapped in his half-paralyzed body when he also lost the ability to speak in 2010. His wife Fokkelien became his devoted full time caregiver. As hard as this was, Stephen found a way to communicate, make new friends, make people laugh, and make them feel loved. They moved to a more handicapped accessible house in a 55+ community near Toms River, NJ in 2017.
The tragedies that marked Stephen’s life, from his mother and older brother’s schizophrenia to his own stroke, generated a wealth of empathy that defined him and illuminated the bright light he shone on those who knew him.
Stephen is survived by his wife Fokkelien Fink, his daughter Evelyn Latella and her husband David, his daughter Heather Fink, his brothers Raphael March, Robert March and his wife Sherry, Richard Fink and his wife Lee, and his grandchildren Madison, Brandon, and Ashton Latella. Visitation is at 11am-12pm Wednesday June 7, 2023, at the DeGraff Lakehurst Funeral Home, 119 Union Ave., Lakehurst. Interment to follow at 1:30pm at Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Cemetery, Arneytown. A repast will follow at the Fink family home.