On Thursday, February 11, 2021, Sylvester F. Sabbatino, loving husband and father of two daughters, passed away peacefully at the age of 68. Sylvester was born on February 19, 1952 in Brooklyn, NY to Anthony and Eileen Sabbatino. After graduating St. John the Baptist High School as part of its first graduating class, he became a clam digger on the Great South Bay. This was the first brick in the road that became his life’s work. On January 24, 1981, he married the love of his life Sharon Gillen. They moved out east to Flanders in 1983 where they raised their two daughters, Tarah and Melissa. Sylvester had an independent spirit and did things on his own terms; which is why working the local bays suited him. His love of the water took him from the tugboats to commercial fishing vessels. In order to spend more time with his wife and young daughters, he began to learn gear for the local fishing fleets. In the early 1990’s he became proprietor of Gearwork Marine Supply, Inc. where he became a Master net and gear builder. He spent the next almost 20 years advocating for the local commercial fisherman and supplying captains and crew from Maine to Delaware and even European mariners. In his retirement he became partners with his eldest daughter and began working the bays again scalloping, clamming and growing oysters. He was a man with an encyclopedic brain for classic rock and muscle cars. He will be remembered as a loyal and hardworking man who had the best one liners and was a fantastic storyteller. He was a great teacher to his daughters, always took the time to listen and loved them fiercely.

He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Sharon (nee: Gillen); his daughters Tarah and Melissa Sabbatino; Andrew Blackmore; his siblings Margaret, James, Eileen, Catherine and Jean; his brothers and sisters in laws Jimmy, Maureen, Kathleen, Thomas, Patty and Patrick; and his 27 nieces and nephews; 27 grand-nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents Anthony and Eileen Sabbatino and his brothers Anthony and John.