Paul Tooker loved the water. He fished in the Great South Bay and sailed, often taking extended trips with his wife and children. Recently, the couple returned from an extended sailing trip to Bermuda.

"The water was his life," said his wife Brigitta.

If the water was his life, his family was his love and throughout his life Mr. Tooker made it a point to let his wife and children know, every day, how much he cared.

"Everytime one of the kids would leave the house or come home, he’d give them a hug and a kiss," said his wife. "He was never afraid to tell us how much he cared and I told my children that we may have had him for only a short time but we got more love from him than other people give who live twice as long."

Paul Tooker, 55, died suddenly of a heart attack on Sunday, August 19, 2001. He grew up in Babylon Village and attended local schools here. He was the owner and operator with is wife of K & T Products, a precision sheet metal fabrication company in Lindenhurst. He was also a member of the Babylon Tuna Club.

Mr. Tooker was a veteran. He served with the U.S. Army in Germany during the Vietnam Conflict, where he met his wife. "I was in college in Europe and my roommate had gone away for the weekend," she said. "It was late and I went to the student club where we were introduced by a mutual friend."

Brigitta said Mr. Tooker initially conversed with her in French and that she thought he was a Frenchman. It was only later, and after Mr. Tooker had exhausted his limited knowledge of the French language that he finally had to tell her he was an American. The couple would have been married 32 years in November.

"He was the most honest, straight forward man I ever met in my whole life," said his wife. "You always knew where you stood with him and if he was your friend, he’d give you the shirt off his back.

"My dad was tough, but caring," said his daughter Abigail. "He taught me everything I know about boats and sailing and racing and the machine shop business, but most of all he taught that while you can rely upon the people you love, you have to stand up on your own two feet."

In addition to his wife, and his daughter Abigail D’Esposito and her husband Angelo, Mr. Tooker is survived by his son Joseph, all of Babylon. His mother Louise Tooker of Spanish Fort, Alabama, also survives him. His father Joseph predeceased.

Mr. Tooker reposed at the Chapey Funeral Home in West Islip. A funeral mass was said at St. Joseph’s R.C. Church, Babylon on Thursday, August 23, 2001. Burial was in National Cemetery at Calverton.