Alred Gerriets, a long-time Great Neck resident and builder of various area homes, died last month, according to a news release. He was 84,
He died just short of his 85th birthday on May 18. He is survived by his wife Rosemarie and his two children, Alfred and Eve, the release said.
His wife said he had a bad heart.
Gerriets was born on June 7, 1930 and raised in Astoria, eventually graduating from Newtown High School in 1948, the release said. While growing up in Astoria, he was a member of the Astoria Red Wings Roller Hockey team.
According to the release, he joined the U.S. Army after high school, serving in the National Guard during the Korean War.
He and Rosemarie married in 1953 when he was 23 and she was 19, she said. The two lived just around the corner from one another growing up, she said.
For their first date, he asked his wife to a dance that was being held at a local church.
“We lived in the same neighborhood, we were in the same social group,” she said.
Gerriets started in the construction business in his 20s after receiving his draftsmanship certificate. He started out as a carpenter before becoming a construction superintendent and eventually a builder, his wife said.
She said he renovated one house in Great Neck, and built three other homes in the area as well.
In 1967, Gerriets moved his family to Great Neck.
His wife said while he was doing construction work at the Village of Kings Point police department, he began talking to the then-chief about real estate.
“We wanted to get out of the city and he suggested to check out Great Neck,” Gerriets’ wife said. “The school had a very good reputation and I had two children and the commute to the city was fairly easy.”
The family then moved from their house in Queens to a house on Morris Lane.
Gerriets’ wife said they later moved to a house Forest Lane that Gerriets supervised the building of in July 2014.
“We liked the grounds, liked the parks, we went to the pool and the activities that were local,” his wife said. “It’s a nice residential neighborhood we enjoyed.”
