Patricia M. Porinchak | Reading specialist, 73

Patricia Moran Porinchak, 73, of Ambler, a reading specialist, died Saturday at the Oaks of Carolina Hospice in Apex, N.C., of complications from a stroke.

For the last three years, Dr. Porinchak taught reading proficiency to students at Montgomery County Community College. She conducted a class two days before becoming ill while spending the Thanksgiving holiday in North Carolina.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Dr. Porinchak earned a bachelor's degree from St. Joseph's College in Brooklyn. After her marriage to David Porinchak in 1961, she raised four children on Long Island, taught reading, and earned a master's degree in special education and a doctorate in reading education from Hofstra University.

In 1996, she and her husband moved to Talamore, a residential community in Ambler, where she was the founding member of a book club.

She shared her love of reading, her daughter Elizabeth Angelillo said, and her nine grandchildren's shelves overflow with books from Grandmom.

In addition to her husband, daughter and grandchildren, Dr. Porinchak is survived by a son, Jan; daughters Susan Mahon and MaryPat; and a sister.

A Funeral Mass will be said at noon tomorrow at Mary Mother of the Redeemer Roman Catholic Church, 1325 Upper State Rd., North Wales. Friends may call at Ciavarelli Funeral Home, 951 E. Butler Pike, Ambler, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. today and from 10 to 11 a.m. tomorrow. Entombment will be in the mausoleum at Whitemarsh Memorial Park in Ambler.