Avis de décès de George-C. Cooley - Nécrologie - MesAieux.com

ALBANY George C. Cooley, 56, died peacefully Tuesday, February 11, 2003 at St. Peter's Hospice in Albany after a long battle with cancer. Born in Troy, he was the son of Dorothy Cooley and the late Joseph Cooley, both of Cohoes. George was a graduate of Dartmouth College and Albany Law School. He served six years in the U.S. Navy as a division officer aboard a destroyer, as advisor to a Vietnamese Navy river division, and as a Navy Reserve instructor at the University of California at Berkeley. For his service in Vietnam, he was awarded the Bronze Star and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. For the past 17 years he was house counsel for Utica National Insurance Group. In addition to his passionate interest in the law, George was an avid gardener, as well as an amateur birdwatcher. He traveled to Ireland several times, and felt a special love for the country, its people, its literature, and its beer. He never stopped learning, constantly reading books on history, poetry, and world religions, and also visiting Civil War battle sites. He had a ready smile and loved to laugh. In addition to his mother, he is survived by his daughters, Martha Cooley of Brooklyn, Bridget Cooley of Brooklyn, and Mary Cooley of Albany, to whom he was a kind and indulgent father and friend; as well as their mother, his ex-wife Maureen Cooley of Delmar; one sister, Mary Cooley of Albany; as well as five brothers, Joseph Cooley and his wife Mattie of Trenton, N.J., Terence and Marcia Cooley of Burlington, Mass., Paul Cooley of Belmont, Mass., Robert and Robin Cooley of Delmar, and Michael and Iris Cooley of Manhattan. He is also survived by his aunts and uncle, Margaret Reed of Cohoes, Alice Cooley of Gouldsboro, Pa., William Van Alstine of Waterford; 13 nieces and nephews, 25 cousins, and countless friends, including his very good friend, Ann Fitzgibbons of Troy. There will be no calling hours as George chose to advance medical learning by making a gift of his body to the Anatomical Gift Program at Albany Medical College. A memorial service will be held this Saturday, February 15, at 12 noon at St. Catherine of Siena Church, 40 Hopewell Street, Albany, NY. Those who wish may make contributions in George's memory to St. Joseph's Restoration Fund, 416 Third Street, Troy, NY, 12180, and the St. Catherine of Siena School Endowment Fund, 35 Hurst Ave., Albany, NY 12208.