Joseph Gabriel "Pijoe" Chamandy, Sr.

At 94 years, Joseph Gabriel Chamandy, Sr (“Pijoe”) passed away peacefully on Thursday, January 14th, 2021. Pijoe was born on July 13th, 1926 in Damascus, Syria the son of the late Tawfik and Claire (Gabriel) Chamandy. He moved to Manila, Philippines with his parents when he was just 6 months old. Grandpa would always tell his grandkids stories about how the fruits in Manila tasted amazing (persimmon) and that the beaches were clear as blue. His grandma would make him and his siblings count the number of cars on the streets to pass the time and would get rewarded pennies for every car. His first job in Manila was as a civilian employee with the US Army during WW II. He would tell us that food was so scare during the Japanese occupation, that his family ate only rice and brown sugar everyday. He met an American named Chuck Merritt who sponsored him to come to the U.S.A. In 1948, at age 22, he docked into the Baltimore Harbor and would spend the rest of his days in America. Joseph served in the army for 2 years after moving to the US but never was deployed. He became a naturalized citizen after that. When he was young, he wanted to be a professional opera singer (he really had an amazing voice) but decided to take the more practical route and worked as a bill collector for the majority of his career. (He did sing in the church choir as a hobby at one time). Joseph got married in Brooklyn, NY on December 3, 1960 to Jocelyne Abraham Chamandy and had 2 sons, one in 1962(Joseph Chamandy) and the deceased Mark Chamandy in 1965. He raised his family in Aspen Hill, Maryland. Once he retired in the 80s, he worked as a volunteer for many years at the Greentree Shelter in Bethesda. In 1989, his son Joseph got married and would give him 6 grandchildren. Pijoe was the kind of guy who never missed an important milestone in his grandchildren’s lives. He was there in the hospital when all 6 grandchildren were born ....he never missed graduations, soccer games and dance recitals. He was always either taking his grandkids to the doctor or coming to meet them at the doctor to make sure they were doing okay. He always told stories about his young life in the Phillipinnes and what he did when he came to this country. There is no idiom he didn’t know! His favorite opera was La Boheme. His favorite opera tenor is Enrico Caruso. He loves tamarind balls and persimmon which he ate all the time back in Manila. Pijoe was always on top of his health and pushed everyone to always eat their veggies, okra and lentil soup. He always told his grandkids before we would step out, “Drive Carefully” (this guy only was in one car accident in his life!) He was always active and would take his walks once a day in his older years. He was an incredibly caring grandfather and was a constant in his grandkids lives. He loved to converse about anything and everything with you and cracked lots of jokes in between. He was such a good sport and would never fail to entertain everyone around him! He had no filter and had no problem speaking his mind. He was just amazing and life will never be the same without him. He is survived by his son Joseph Chamandy, daughter-in-law Gilda Acra Chamandy, and grandchildren Anna Christina Koutris (Chamandy) and her husband George Koutris, Natalia Chamandy, Mark Chamandy, Lauren Chamandy, Kristelle Chamandy and Joseph Chamandy from Rockville, Maryland. He is survived by his former spouse Jocelyne Chamandy from Chevy Chase, Maryland. He is also survived by a sister Antoinette Khoury from Fort Lee, NJ. He was predeceased by his son Mark Chamandy and his brother Victor Chamandy. A graveside service will be held at Parklawn Memorial Park Cemetery at 12pm. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be sent to Missionaries of Charity (https://catholiccharitiesny.org/our-agencies/missionaries-charityqueen-peace-residence) Office of Development, 11th Floor 1011 First Avenue New York, NY 10022