STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Frederick Buzzard Sr., 62, a Vietnam veteran and longtime Port Authority employee known for his church volunteer work, died yesterday at home, after battling lung cancer.

Mr. Buzzard was born and reared in Penargyl, Pa. After playing football at Penargyl High School, he remained an avid fan for life.

He joined the U.S. Army in 1966 and served for six years in Vietnam and Germany.  In 1972, he moved to New Jersey, where he lived in several towns. He moved to Staten Island 13 years ago, settling in West Brighton.

Mr. Buzzard worked for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for just shy of 40 years. A signal supervisor on PATH trains, he retired last year.

A parishioner of Sacred Heart R.C. Church, West Brighton, Mr. Buzzard sang in the church choir and coached boys' soccer teams for the Catholic Youth Organization. He considered his conversion to Catholicism at Easter time last year a profound experience.

Surviving are his wife, the former Jean Hartmann; his three sons, Patrick, Robert and Frederick Jr.; his mother, Caroline Buzzard; a brother, Thomas, and three sisters, Anita Buzzard, Jennine Buzzard and Kerri Renner. His son, John, died in 2008.

The funeral will be Saturday from the Harmon Home for Funerals, West Brighton, with a mass at 10 a.m. in Sacred Heart Church. Burial will be in St. Peter's Cemetery, West Brighton.