Retired NYPD officer, Navy veteran, beloved father, grandfather
Thomas J. Kennedy, formerly a resident of East Durham, died peacefully on Jan. 8, 2019, at his home on Staten Island. He was 91.
Born on June 20, 1927, in Brooklyn, NY, to Sarah (Kennedy) and Thomas Kennedy after they emigrated from Ireland, Mr. Kennedy served in the U.S. Navy in the Philippines, where he was a gunner on a P.T. Boat. Upon returning after the war, he settled in Prospect Park, and later Sheepshead Bay, with his high school sweetheart, Frances Brown, to whom he was married for 69 years. She survives at home.
Mr. Kennedy then became a New York City police officer, and served for 31 years, settling on Staten Island, where he and Frances raised five children.
In later years, they spent summers in their vacation home in East Durham, NY, where Tom reveled in Irish music and culture.
Thomas was predeceased by his mother and father; his brothers, Patrick and Neil, and his sister, Ann.
He is survived by his children- Raymond (Deborah) of East Durham; Mayor Robert Kennedy (Mary) of Freeport, Long Island; Mary Carcaterra (Salvatore) of Staten Island; Thomas Kennedy of East Durham and Staten Island; Denise Warwick (James)) of Acra, NY, and a sister, Eileen McCauley (Richard) of Lynbrook, Long Island, as well as 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Viewing will be from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday at the Harmon Funeral Home on Staten Island, and a Mass of Christian Burial is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Saturday at St. Theresa's Church, Victory Boulevard, S.I., with interment immediately following at Resurrection Cemetery.
Harmon Funeral Home
571 Forest Ave.
Staten Island, N.Y. 10310
(718) 442-5056
Published in Staten Island Advance on Jan. 10, 2019
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