John ‘Jay’ Corcoran

A marine engineer, John ‘Jay’ Corcoran, 45, was en route from his home in Norwell, Mass., to sail out of the Port of Los Angeles on a container ship, officials with his union, the Marine Engineers Beneficial Assn. said.

Union official Al Camelio of Long Beach said Corcoran, a Boston-area native, graduated from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1979 and had worked on oceangoing cargo ships ever since. In recent years, Corcoran handled a rigorous schedule of 84 days at sea, then 84 days at home with his wife, Diana, and their children, Megan, 17, and Jake, 14.

“He was a regular guy with a good sense of humor, always smiling, and he was liked by the people he worked for and the people who worked for him,” Camelio said.

Camelio said Corcoran’s ship, the APL Thailand, was to sail today for Asia.

“He used to love to tell me what his family has been doing while he was home,” Camelio said. “It’s a cliche to say he was a family man, but he really was. I think that’s how he’d like to be remembered.”