John Vasser Sr., Purple Heart recipient who supported local veterans, dies at 92

John Vasser, Sr. of South Nyack died Dec. 10 at age 92. A Korean War veteran and Purple Heart recipient, Vasser was the 2010 recipient of the Rockland County Buffalo Soldier Award.

Vasser’s work in the community included supporting fellow veterans, serving the local NAACP, and helping in the preservation and maintenance of the historic Mount Moor Cemetery, the final resting place of many Black veterans, including those from the Civil War.

Born in July 1931, he was raised in the coal mining town of Townley, Alabama. Vasser attended segregated schools and was a track standout.

“We didn’t get the quality of education that other kids had,” Vasser said in the Nyack Record Shop Project, a 2018 oral-history archive.

Vasser served 14 months in Korea, most of that time in heavy combat. He was wounded in battle while serving with the 3rd Infantry Division. He remained active in the Reserves and National Guard for years.

Vasser graduated from SUNY Rockland Community College with an associate degree and Lehman College with a bachelor’s degree. He worked at Rockland Psychiatric Center and then Hudson Valley Montrose VA Medical Center.

A longtime congregant of Pilgrim Baptist Church, Vasser said he would attend various churches' events to show support for them all.

Vasser had a strong sense of civic duty and played a role in ensuring civil rights would be protected in Nyack and Rockland. During that 2018 oral history project, Vasser demurred when interviewer Bill Batson lauded his role in Nyack’s past.

“I don’t make history,” Vasser said. “History makes itself.”

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Doris Vasser; children John Vasser, Jr., and De Angela Vasser; grandchildren, nieces and nephews and his church family.

A funeral service was held Monday at Pilgrim Baptist Church. He was buried at Frederick Loescher Veterans Cemetery in Spring Valley.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Rockland County NY Korean War veteran John Vasser obituary