By Paddy McCarthy
Last week in my Out&About I gave recognition to a great man who works with Con Edison, James O’Leary who is the recipient of this year’s “Living Our Values (LOV)” award, Con Edison’s highest honor for this year’s prestigious Award. I have since received a couple of pictures from the event so I’m going to feature them in this week’s column. From all of the staff of The Irish Examiner USA we’d like to congratulate James again on the honor, it is an award that acknowledges employee excellence both professionally and personally.
All the past Living Our Values (LOV) Award winners, Andre Chambers, Janira Quinones, Katia Gordon, Louis Cardillo and Melanie Mangone with James O’Leary at the back of the group
The IABS 2024 Golf Outing will be held at the Rockville Links Golf Course Club in Rockville Center, New York on Thursday June 27th and all are welcome. They’ll be serving breakfast at 8 am and the Shotgun starts at 10am. After your long day of golf they’ll also be serving a lunch at 3 pm.For more information go to www.IABSNY.org.
This event comes with some very special opportunities for sponsorship. All sponsorships carry great visibility for your company or organization during the event. You can get more information by contacting Mary Glynn at mglynn@tlmgroup.com.
I got this announcement from the UICANY with news of another event that you should not miss, the Project Children Reception “Move to Monaghan” Initiative which will be held on Thursday May 16th from 7 pm to 8:30 pm at the Aisling Irish Community Center (990 McLean Avenue in Yonkers).
The Mulcahy Scholarship and Aisling Irish Center will also be hosting a pre-departure celebration for the 2024 Mulcahy Scholarship recipients. Light refreshments will be served. For more information contact Catherine T. Hogan at (646) 489-5258.
I also got this from Siobhan McCourt asking for me to make this announcement that I gladly am doing as it is for a dear friend who passed away recently, yes, the one and only Malachy McCourt: “This is an open invitation to please join the family to remember Malachy McCourt as they raise him up and celebrate his great journey on Thursday May 30th from 6 pm to 8 pm at the Symphony Space (2539 Broadway, corner of 95th and Broadway, New York).”
There are limited tickets available as this is a free event. For more information email msmccourt@gmail.com.
Here I am going to give you a little history on Malachy who was an American actor, writer and politician. Born in Brooklyn, Malachy appeared in several films and soap operas, including The Molly Maguires, Brewster’s Millions (1985), and Another World. He also wrote three memoirs, describing his life in Ireland and in the United States.
Malachy was the 2006 Green Party candidate for governor of New York, losing to the Democratic candidate Eliot Spitzer.
He was the younger brother of author Frank McCourt who was also a great friend, RIP.
The son of Irish parents Angela (née Sheehan) and Malachy Gerard McCourt Sr., by the time of his death in 2024, he was the longest-lived of their seven offspring, following the death of his younger brother Alphonsus in 2016.
Malachy was raised in Limerick, Ireland, and returned to the United States in 1952. Malachy acted on stage, on television and in several movies, including The Molly Maguires (1970), The Brink’s Job (1978), Q (1982), Brewster’s Millions (1985), Tales from the Darkside (1985), The January Man (1989), Beyond the Pale (2000), and Ash Wednesday (2002). He also appeared on several New York City-based soap operas: Another World, Ryan’s Hope, Search for Tomorrow, and One Life to Live.
He is also known for his annual Christmas-time appearances on All My Children as Father Clarence, a priest who shows up to give inspirational advice to Pine Valley citizens.
In 1970, Malachy released a spoken word album on vinyl, And the Children Toll the Passing of the Day, which was produced by David Hess. Also in the 1970s, he hosted a talk show on WMCA. Malachy wrote three memoirs, A Monk Swimming a Memoir, Death be Not Fatal, and Singing My Him Song, all of which detail respectively his life in Ireland and his later return to the United States. He also authored a book on the history of the ballad “Danny Boy”, and put together a collection of Irish writings, called Voices of Ireland.
In 1960, he was one of the four founding members of the Manhattan Rugby Football Club. Malachy appears in his older brother Frank McCourt’s memoirs. He was portrayed by Peter Halpin in the film version of his brother’s memoir Angela’s Ashes.
In 2023, Malachy told The New York Times that he was ill with a number of health problems, including a heart condition, skin cancer, prostate cancer and a form of muscular degeneration. He died at Lenox Hill Hospital on March 11, 2024, at the age of 92.
Malachy was and is a legend, like his brother Frank, and they will be remembered into the next century as the two greatest talented writers and performers that will never be forgotten and I am so privileged that I knew them both very well, RIP.
I hope to see you all again next week when I am Out&About once more…