Arthur Testoff

Arthur Testoff passed away on April 7, 2025 at the age of 99.  Arthur was born in New York City on December 13, 1925 to Charles Testoff and Frieda Shupek.  He was the youngest of two siblings.  He is preceded in death by his beloved wife of 35 years Joanne, his youngest son Kevin, and his sister Lillian. He is survived by his three sons Dennis, Steven, and Robert, eight grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.

Arthur graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City in 1943. He served in the U.S. Navy during the later stages of World War II. He was stationed at a repair base in Subic Bay in the Philippines and served as an electric arc welder repairing ships.

At the insistence of his father, Arthur attended American University after his service in the Navy where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in statistics.

Arthur continued to work as an iron worker after graduating from American University.  He was a riveter and worked in the shipyards in New York City, on the construction of the Tappan Zee Bridge crossing the Hudson River in New York, and dismantling some of the elevated trains in New York City. He was of that generation of iron workers that you see in the iconic photos of men sitting on a steel beam 50 stories up casually eating their pail lunches. He retired from iron working in 1953 after suffering a near-fatal accident.  He was knocked from a beam four stories off the ground by a crane boom and spent more than six months in the hospital.

Arthur married Joanne in New York City in December of 1956. They moved to Maryland in 1958 and made Maryland home where they raised their four children. They loved to travel and made numerous trips abroad.

Arthur worked at the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (now the Department of Health and Human Services) for more than 30 years first as a statistician and later managing federal grant programs to promote minorities in the field of health. He was an ardent civil servant and received numerous awards for his work.

Arthur moved to Spring Hill, Florida after retiring from the civil service.  He loved traveling and continued to travel abroad until his late eighties. He was quite stubborn and only agreed to curtail unaccompanied travel after he fell and broke his hip at Machu Picchu in Peru when he was 88. He also loved to fish and spent countless hours pursuing his hobby on boats, off local fishing piers, and on beaches.

Arthur’s father, a merchant mariner that also served in the U.S. Navy in World War I, is alleged to have often quipped to his son that he served in a merchant marine of iron men and wooden ships while Arthur served in a Navy of iron ships and wooden men. Those who knew Arthur well would agree that he was no wooden man.

Interment will be at Crownsville Veterans Cemetery, Anne Arundel County, Maryland on Thursday, May 29 at 1:00 PM. A brief remembrance will be held at the Cemetery Chapel.

Memorial contributions may be made in honor of Arthur Testoff to the American Cancer Society or other cancer research organizations.