Peter Hinski, 67, co-owned S. Jersey bike shop

When he was 22, Peter K. Hinski was told by his physicians that he would not live to age 40 because he was suffering from a severe case of Type 1 diabetes.

In 2007, the year he turned 60, he took part in an experimental research study at the University of Pennsylvania that made him no longer insulin-dependent, his sister, Gracanne Hinski-Ryan, said.

Through it all, he lived for bicycling, she said.

On Saturday, Jan. 10, Mr. Hinski, 67, of Cherry Hill, co-owner of the Erlton Bicycle Shop there, died of respiratory distress at Arden Courts of Cherry Hill, a memory care community.

"As a bike mechanic or moped mechanic, there was none better," Rich Tustin, manager of the Erlton shop, said.

"He would ride in all sorts of weather, dead of winter," Tustin said. "He was the first person I ever knew to make studded snow tires for mountain bikes."

When Mr. Hinski rode for recreation on a free day, Tustin said, his time on the road "depended on when he had to be back. He'd ride as long as he could."

Mr. Hinski grew up in Haddonfield and graduated from Haddonfield Memorial High School in 1964.

After serving as a Navy engine mechanic from 1968 to 1971, for a time on the Simon Lake, a submarine tender, Mr. Hinski earned a teaching degree in industrial arts at what is now Rowan University in 1975.

He taught the subject for only two years, his sister said, before he and his wife, Christine, bought the Erlton shop, which she continues to own and operate.

"He put most of the other bike shops out of business over the years," said a brother, Gene, owner of the Danks-Hinski Funeral Home in Lindenwold.

Their sister, Gracanne, recalled that "he did have that interest as a kid.

"One of my young memories of him is getting an English racer. My parents surprised him at Christmas, when he was maybe 10."

Mr. Hinski was as interested "in the mechanics of how a bike worked as he was interested in the ways of using alternate sources of energy," she said.

"He did believe that owning and operating the shop was a way of serving his community."

Besides his wife, sister, and brother, Mr. Hinski is survived by daughter Amanda and another brother.

Viewings were set from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, and 9 to 10:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 16, at the Hinski-Tomlinson Funeral Home, 81 Haddon Ave., Haddonfield, before an 11 a.m. Funeral Mass at Christ the King Church, 200 Windsor Ave., Haddonfield.

Donations may be sent to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation at http://jdrf.org.

Condolences may be offered to the family at http://hinski-tomlinsonfuneralhome.com.