BERNE — Richard J. Lyons liked making corny jokes but he also had a serious commitment to his work, his religion, and most of all his family.

“He was a fun-loving jokester,” said his son, Sean Lyons. “He loved the one-liners...My daughter and all of his grandchildren called him ‘Peep,’ and we called his jokes peep-isms.”

Mr. Lyons died unexpectedly at his Bradt Hollow Road home on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014. He was 66.

Born on Aug. 19, 1948 in Niskayuna, Mr. Lyons was the son of the late Joseph and Josephine Grabowski. His father worked as the high superintendent for Albany County and his mother was a cook at the Zwickelbauer Hofbrau, a popular German restaurant on Warners Lake in the Helderbergs.

Mr. Lyons was raised in Berne and was a graduate of Berne-Knox High School where, his son said, “He was one of the smarter kids.”

He was a schnitzel cook at Zwickelbaur’s. That’s where he met Donna Campbell, who worked in the restaurant as a waitress. They fell in love and were married on March 31, 1973. Their marriage lasted 41 years, ending only with his death.

Mr. Lyons was proud of his service in the United States Air Force. During the Vietnam War era, he was stationed in Guam and Riverside, California, his son said, where he worked in supplies, using his business skills.

Mr. Lyons went to Cobleskill Agricultural and Technical College, and then earned his bachelor’s degree in business at Russell Sage. He worked in real estate sales with Prudential Manor Homes.

“His work was his life,” said his son. “He loved to help people get into their homes. He helped them find what they wanted.”

Mr. Lyons was a member of the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce, but he wasn’t all business. He was an avid Giants and Yankees fan, often taking his children to watch games with him. “When he wasn’t in a suit, he was in a Giants shirt or a Yankees cap,” said his son.

He loved playing sports, too, especially bowling, and golfing with the Choppers.

Mr. Lyons was also a religious man, attending St. Bernadette’s Catholic Church in Berne until it closed; after that, he went to St. Lucy’s in Altamont.

“He volunteered all his time at St. Bernadette’s,” said his son. No job was too big or too small; his duties ranged from serving the host as a Eucharistic minister to taking the church’s garbage to the dump.

“He is remembered by his family as a loving husband, dad, and ‘Peep’ to his precious grandchildren,” his family wrote in a tribute.

Sean Lyons said he learned this from his father: “The value of family and faith, and trying to find the good in everybody.”

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Richard J. Lyons is survived by his wife, Donna (née Campbell) Lyons, and their children, Maureen Monkell and her husband, John, of Pensacola, Florida; Sean Lyons and his wife, Jennifer, of Berne; Scott Lyons and his wife, Tara, of Berne; and Jessica Lyons of Berne.

He is also survived by five grandchildren, Meredith and Matthew Monkell of Mobile, Alabama; Megan Lyons of Greensboro, North Carolina; and Zachary and Gavin Lyons of Berne. He is survived, too, by two sisters, Susan Strauss and her husband, Larry, of Levittown, New York, and Patricia Torkarz of Queensbury, New York, and his mother, Gladys Lyons, of Long Island, New York.

His parents, Joseph and Josephine Grabowski, died before him, as did his sister Sandra Triolo.

Family and friends are invited to call at the DeMarco Stone Funeral Home Inc. at 5216 Western Turnpike in Guilderland NY 12084 on Friday, Sept. 12, from 4 to 7 p.m. Funeral services will begin at the funeral home on Saturday, Sept. 13, at 9:30 a.m.  Immediately following, a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. at St. Lucy/ St. Bernadette Church in Altamont NY 12009. Interment will follow at Woodlawn Cemetery in Berne.

Memorial donations may be made to the Sunshine Kids Foundation, 2 Hartford Square, West 146 Wyllys Street, Suite 2-210, Hartford CT  06106 or directly to St. Lucy/St. Bernadette Church Post Office Box 678, 109 Grand Street Altamont, NY 12009.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer