Joe Eyring, banking and finance executive from Northport, dies at 99
Like in a Dickens novel set in Depression-era America, Northport’s Joe Eyring overcame poverty, domestic turmoil, years in a foster home and a parent’s death become an executive in banking and finance.
Even at age 99, "I count my blessings every single day of my life, for what I have today," he told Newsday in an interview shortly before his death at Huntington Hospital on April 4 of natural causes.
"Even with the childhood he had, he was a always a glass-half-full kind of guy, very positive," marveled one his sons, Ken Eyring, of Windham, New Hampshire. "He taught us all values like tradition and hard work. I was proud to have him as a father."
"He credited hard work and dedication and also a little bit of luck" for his success, echoed another son, Paul Eyring, of Northport. "And the people you meet along the way helping you." His son added, "Education's a big key. He was always big on education."
Joseph Richard Eyring was born May 4, 1925, in the Bronx, the son of mechanic Joseph John Eyring and manicurist Frances Alice Walder, who married shortly after his birth. His father struggled with alcohol, and his parents repeatedly separated and reconciled. Joe lived for a time with an aunt in Manhattan until, Ken Eyring recalled, "his mother boarded him with some people in New Jersey" — the Cowan family in Keyport, where he attended fourth to eighth grade.
"He always talked about how grateful he was of the people that helped raise him who weren't family," Paul Eyring said. "He really appreciated how they took care of him and sacrificed for him" during the 1930s Great Depression.
He returned to Manhattan in 1939 to live with his mother "in a one-room apartment where they had to share a [communal] kitchen and bath," Paul Eyring said. Joe attended George Washington High School, now the George Washington Educational Complex, in Washington Heights, graduating in 1943; his mother had died of tuberculosis in March the year before.
In May 1943, Eyring enlisted in the U.S. Navy, which sent to him for training and education at Emory & Henry College and to Hampton-Sydney College, both in Virginia, and to the Reserve Midshipmen School at Columbia University. On Aug. 9, 1945, as an ensign, he reported to the USS Baltimore, the first of several vessels on which he would serve. Following active duty, he remained in the U.S. Navy Reserve until his discharge as a lieutenant junior grade in 1960.
Working for RKO Radio Pictures as a statistical accountant after the war, he met co-worker Audrey Elaine Armbruster, who went by Elaine, and the two married in December 1947. They remained together until her death in 2021 at age 93.
In 1953, while at the accounting firm Lybrand, Ross Brothers and Montgomery, now PricewaterhouseCoopers, Eyring attended Pace College, now Pace University, on the G.I. Bill, earning an accounting degree in 1953. He became a certified public accountant in 1959.
Living first in Forest Hills, Queens, and then in Seaford, Eyring began working for the commercial financing company James Talcott. A promotion took him to Miami around 1961, where Ken Eyring remembers his father taking the kids to drive-in triple features and to football games at the Orange Bowl.
In 1968, Joe Eyring became a principal in a Florida accounting firm specializing in banking. This led to his joining the Hempstead-based Security National Bank in 1970, and the family moved to Northport. Following Security’s 1975 acquisition by Chemical Bank, now JPMorganChase, Eyring became a vice president in Chemical’s credit division. He retired in 1992.
In the 1970s and ‘80s, Eyring served as a committee chair of Boy Scouts of America Troop 410 in Northport, participating with youngest son Paul in such outings as a 12-day campout in New Mexico. He also was active with American Legion Post 694 in Northport and was a board member of the Bohemia chapter of the nationwide developmental disability organization now known as The Arc.
In addition to his sons Ken and Paul, he is survived by another son, Richard Eyring, of Rocky Point; nine grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Another son, Tom Eyring, predeceased him in 1999.
A memorial was held April 9 at Nolan Funeral Home in Northport, followed by a prayer service there the following day and interment with U.S. Navy military honors at Calverton National Cemetery. Donations may be made to the special-needs organization Maryhaven in Port Jefferson Station.
Like in a Dickens novel set in Depression-era America, Northport’s Joe Eyring overcame poverty, domestic turmoil, years in a foster home and a parent’s death become an executive in banking and finance.
Even at age 99, "I count my blessings every single day of my life, for what I have today," he told Newsday in an interview shortly before his death at Huntington Hospital on April 4 of natural causes.
"Even with the childhood he had, he was a always a glass-half-full kind of guy, very positive," marveled one his sons, Ken Eyring, of Windham, New Hampshire. "He taught us all values like tradition and hard work. I was proud to have him as a father."
"He credited hard work and dedication and also a little bit of luck" for his success, echoed another son, Paul Eyring, of Northport. "And the people you meet along the way helping you." His son added, "Education's a big key. He was always big on education."
Joseph Richard Eyring was born May 4, 1925, in the Bronx, the son of mechanic Joseph John Eyring and manicurist Frances Alice Walder, who married shortly after his birth. His father struggled with alcohol, and his parents repeatedly separated and reconciled. Joe lived for a time with an aunt in Manhattan until, Ken Eyring recalled, "his mother boarded him with some people in New Jersey" — the Cowan family in Keyport, where he attended fourth to eighth grade.
"He always talked about how grateful he was of the people that helped raise him who weren't family," Paul Eyring said. "He really appreciated how they took care of him and sacrificed for him" during the 1930s Great Depression.
He returned to Manhattan in 1939 to live with his mother "in a one-room apartment where they had to share a [communal] kitchen and bath," Paul Eyring said. Joe attended George Washington High School, now the George Washington Educational Complex, in Washington Heights, graduating in 1943; his mother had died of tuberculosis in March the year before.
In May 1943, Eyring enlisted in the U.S. Navy, which sent to him for training and education at Emory & Henry College and to Hampton-Sydney College, both in Virginia, and to the Reserve Midshipmen School at Columbia University. On Aug. 9, 1945, as an ensign, he reported to the USS Baltimore, the first of several vessels on which he would serve. Following active duty, he remained in the U.S. Navy Reserve until his discharge as a lieutenant junior grade in 1960.
Working for RKO Radio Pictures as a statistical accountant after the war, he met co-worker Audrey Elaine Armbruster, who went by Elaine, and the two married in December 1947. They remained together until her death in 2021 at age 93.
In 1953, while at the accounting firm Lybrand, Ross Brothers and Montgomery, now PricewaterhouseCoopers, Eyring attended Pace College, now Pace University, on the G.I. Bill, earning an accounting degree in 1953. He became a certified public accountant in 1959.
Living first in Forest Hills, Queens, and then in Seaford, Eyring began working for the commercial financing company James Talcott. A promotion took him to Miami around 1961, where Ken Eyring remembers his father taking the kids to drive-in triple features and to football games at the Orange Bowl.
In 1968, Joe Eyring became a principal in a Florida accounting firm specializing in banking. This led to his joining the Hempstead-based Security National Bank in 1970, and the family moved to Northport. Following Security’s 1975 acquisition by Chemical Bank, now JPMorganChase, Eyring became a vice president in Chemical’s credit division. He retired in 1992.
In the 1970s and ‘80s, Eyring served as a committee chair of Boy Scouts of America Troop 410 in Northport, participating with youngest son Paul in such outings as a 12-day campout in New Mexico. He also was active with American Legion Post 694 in Northport and was a board member of the Bohemia chapter of the nationwide developmental disability organization now known as The Arc.
In addition to his sons Ken and Paul, he is survived by another son, Richard Eyring, of Rocky Point; nine grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Another son, Tom Eyring, predeceased him in 1999.
A memorial was held April 9 at Nolan Funeral Home in Northport, followed by a prayer service there the following day and interment with U.S. Navy military honors at Calverton National Cemetery. Donations may be made to the special-needs organization Maryhaven in Port Jefferson Station.
