STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  --  Alexander DeMatteis, 76, of Midland Beach, a loving father and grandfather, died Saturday in Staten Island University Hospital, in Ocean Breeze.

Born and raised in Boro Park, Brooklyn, in the mid-1960s he moved to Travis, where he lived for for 15 years. He then settled upstate in Bainbridge, N.Y., but returned to the Island three months ago, moving to Island Shores in Midland Beach. Mr. DeMatteis worked as a pipefitter for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for three decades, retiring when he was 55.

He loved being outdoors and was an avid hunter and fisherman as well as a good athlete. He liked to roller skate, and until a few months ago enjoyed skating outdoors in good weather. He had coached gymnastics at the YMCA in Bainbridge, and kept fit by lifting weights.

Mr. DeMatteis also was light on his feet, and enjoyed dancing to all kinds of music. He attended St. Catharine of Alexandria R.C. Church, Brooklyn, and had been active in the Knights of Columbus in Bainbridge.  “He was a very confident, caring person,” said his son, Michael DeMatteis.

Mr. DeMatteis’ wife of more than 20 years, the former Kathleen Miley, died in 2006.  Surviving, along with his son, Michael, are his son, Alexander III; his daughters, his daughters, Marlene Goldenberg and Annette Frost; three sisters, Nina Brizzi, Angela Wolf and Rosemarie Kozenesky and five grandchildren.

The funeral was scheduled for today from the Joseph A. Brizzi & Sons Funeral Home, Brooklyn, with a mass at 10:15 a.m. in St. Catharine of Alexandria Church. Burial was to follow in Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains.