Jerry Girardi, 81

The Yankees observed a moment of silence before Thursday night’s Game 4 of the American League Division Series against the Orioles at Yankee Stadium in honor of Jerry Girardi, father of Yanks manager Joe Girardi, who died Saturday at the age of 81 at Snyder Village, a residential healthcare provider, in Metamora, Ill. The senior Girardi had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

Joe Girardi had not informed the players about his father’s passing until Thursday when word began to spread about the situation. Joe said that he had planned to tell the team at the end of the ALDS and to attend the funeral Monday.

“One of the reasons I didn’t say anything is that I knew talking about it would make it probably even harder,” Joe said before the game. “The one thing that both my Mom and Dad taught me was always finish the job at hand. So my thought process was that my Dad would want me to do everything that we could to go to win the World Series.”

The elder Girardi was born May 5, 1931. He married Angela Perino in 1959 in Tampico, Ill. She died in 1984. The couple had five children: John, George, Maria, Joe and Jerry. Joe’s father was also survived by six grandchildren.

The senior Girardi, who served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War, worked in construction sales for National Gypsum Company and also as a bricklayer. He enjoyed coaching his children’s sports teams, which he did for many years and was also very active at Sacred Heart Grade School and Spalding High School, where he was a president of the Booster Club. He was also a member of St. Monica Catholic Church in East Peoria. Ill.

Visitation will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Deiters Funeral Home and Crematory with a prayer service at 5:45 p.m. There will be an additional brief visitation from 9:30 to 10 a.m. Monday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Peoria immediately prior to the Mass of the Resurrection, which will begin at 10 a.m. Burial will take place at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Tampico, Ill., at 2:30 p.m. Monday.

Memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association or to Snyder Village.