Joseph Reichert of Woodbury

Joseph Monroe Reichert Jr., 81, of Woodbury, retired co-owner and president of Norwood Construction Co., died at Cooper University Hospital Monday, Dec. 24, of a head injury from a fall at home.

In 1975, Mr. Reichert established Norwood with partner George Congdon. Developer Willard G. Rouse 3d was a major client of the company, whose local projects included the Ikea store in Plymouth Meeting, Lehigh Valley Corporate Center in Allentown, Great Valley Corporate Center in Malvern, and Lenape Center in Woodbury as well as projects in Florida, Maryland and other states.

Mr. Reichert supervised the firm's offices in Malvern and six other locations before his retirement in 1995.

He kept busy in his free time with personal building projects. As a boy, he helped his father build a house in Grassy Sound near Wildwood and in 1958 he built the home in the Colonial Manor section of Woodbury where he and his wife raised three children.

In 2011, he built a new vacation home in Avalon as a legacy to his family. Recently he had completed a stone fireplace there, his daughter, Valerie McClung, said.

The house was surrounded by devastation from Hurricane Sandy but was not damaged in the storm, McClung said.

Mr. Reichert delighted in moving rocks and dirt in his yard in Woodbury with his Kubota tractor. He also enjoyed fishing, boating, hunting and fishing with his children and grandchildren; sunsets over the ocean; trips with his wife in their RV; and coffee with friends at Moran's Dockside in Avalon, N.J.

Mr. Reichert grew up in Thorofare. He met his future wife, Betty Pascoe Reichert, in kindergarten at Verga Elementary School. They graduated from Paulsboro High School in 1950 and married in 1953.

Before starting his own business, he was a machinist millwright at Hercules Refinery in Gibbstown for 17 years. He was a veteran of the Navy Reserve.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Reichert is survived by sons Randy and Douglas; a brother; a sister; and seven grandchildren.

A funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 29, at Budd Funeral Home, 522 Salem Ave., Woodbury. Friends may call from 9:30.

Donations may be made to Animal Welfare Association, 509 Centennial Blvd., Voorhees, N.J. 08043.