Obituary for Joel I. Dobbin

written by his son Josh Joel Dobbin was a husband, father, grandfather, friend, adventurer, soldier, and a million other things, to nearly as many people. To all and above all, however, he was always a powerful character who singularly sought to do both the right and (oftentimes more importantly) the interesting thing. Joel was born April 16, 1939, to Estelle and Nathanial Dobbin in Brooklyn, NY. He died April 17th, 2009 and is survived by his wife, Jean, his children Jonathan, Alyse, and Josh, his grandchildren Ethan, Isabel, Justine, and Jacinda, his brother Peter and sister Marcia. He is also survived by a seemingly impossible and massive crowd of friends to whom Joel was and will always remain family. Too numerous to give full account, but chief among them, The Boys: Lawrence Sikora, Alfred Gartenlaub, Bobby Kontoff, Alan Breslaw, Bernie Glaser, Sam Livingston, and Roz Jospey. J oel attended Cornell University and obtained a degree in Entomology which has little to do with the fact that he was variously a solider in Korea, a series of different types of salesman (among them pharmaceuticals and wholesale cookies), a Wall Street broker, a Reptile Keeper for the Bronx Zoo, a local TV and radio news anchor and talk show host, Tarot Card reader, hypnotist, photographer, ghost hunter, game show contestant (he won on JEOPARDY, pre-Alex Trebek), journalist, cab driver, lecturer, dairy farmer and Master Sergent in the Air Force and Connecticut Air National Guard, where he served 20 years with distinction and retired with honors. Later, he would work for the Bridgeport Zoo and the Connecticut Humane Society, but his proudest and most fulfilling job came as a professional Grandpa. (A career for which he printed and would enthusiastically hand out business cards.) Joel Dobbin was also a natural-born teacher and mentor, giving freely of himself as a matter of course. Across the span of decades, he took a series of kids and young adults under his wing, giving them both guidance and encouragement and oftentimes sharing his enthusiasm and knowledge of wildlife and natural science, encouraging them to learn and marvel at the wonders the world has to offer. His family always understood that while he was always theirs, they shared him with the world. In a world without dragons, Joel fought crocodiles and famously wore a necklace with the tooth of one which was lodged in his leg for a time. His final battle was a 9 month one with lung cancer, which robbed him of his strength, vitality, health, appetite and weight but never of his dignity,spirit or humor. He went out as he so often lived, like a storybook King. He died without pain in his home, with dogs underfoot and surrounded by his wife, his three children and a collection of photos and mementos of a life extraordinarily well lived.