Longtime area obstetrician/gynecologist and area resident Dr. Joseph P. Martocci, died August 20, 2008 in West Islip. He was 84 and had delivered over 4,000 babies before his 1995 retirement.

He lived on Gamecock Lane in Babylon Village from 1959 to 1991 and on Hyman Avenue in West Islip from 1991 to his passing. He graduated in 1940 from Stuyvesant High School, in 1944 from Columbia University and in 1948 from the L.I. College of Medicine at Downstate. He was the director of OBGYN at Good Samaritan Hospital, had affiliations at Southside Hospital and also practiced in Lindenhurst, Babylon Village and West Islip.

During World War II he served in the U.S. Army and participated in the D Day Invasion at Normandy as a stretcher bearer. Dr. Martocci was also a surgeon in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (Mash) Unit in the Korean War.

A 49-year member of St. Joseph's R.C. Parish in Babylon, he also served as a Eucharistic Minister. According to his son, Joseph Jr. of Springfield, Virginia, he was an avid golfer and a member of the Southward Ho County Club in Bay Shore for more than 40 years.

In addition to his son, Dr. Martocci also leaves behind his children: Thomas J. of Mahwah, New Jersey and Jeanmarie Patterson and her husband Morgan of Bay Shore; his daughters-in-law: Geraldine Noble and Laura; and his grandchildren: Joseph Patrick III, Christopher Michael, Katie and Leah. He was predeceased by his wife Helen and his sister Margaret Derbabian.

He reposed at the Fredrick J. Chapey Funeral Home, West Islip, on August 22, 2008. A Celebration of the Liturgy of Christian Burial was said at St. Joseph's R.C. in Babylon on August 23, 2008 followed by interment in Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, New York.

Donations in Dr. Martocci's name can be sent to Our Lady of Consolidation Palliative Care Unit, 111 Beach Drive, West Islip, New York 11795.