Michael Joseph McNerney

Michael Joseph “Joe” McNerney ran joyfully into the arms of a loving God on August 31 at the age of 92. He was a devoted husband to Marylou McNerney for 62 years. He was a brother to Mary and Betty, father to Michael, father-in-law to Kathryn, grandfather to Kevin, Kathleen, and Aidan, and “Uncle Joe” to over 50 loving family members.

There will be a funeral Mass at St. Ann Catholic Church on October 3 at 1pm.

Joe was born in Harlem and grew up in a tenement house in the Yorkville section of Manhattan. He played stickball and stoopball in the streets with friends who stayed connected over many decades. He was not athletic, but he was innately charming and infectiously optimistic, traits that served him well as a lifelong salesman.

He sold Fuller Brushes door-to-door and then traveled to over 40 states in the 1950’s and 60’s selling an innovative tire repair kit to car repair shops. It was during this time he met his future wife, an Eastern Airlines stewardess, when she spilled coffee on him during a flight. Their first date was at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, and they dated by meeting in cities around the country.

Joe struggled with drinking and gambling early in his life. The first person to see their newborn baby, Michael, was their neighborhood butcher/bookie in Rockaway, New York. Two-year-old Michael learned to walk in a bar at the Aqueduct Racetrack. Joe gave up gambling and had his last drink in 1972.

Dozens of people helped Joe in his life, including through a couple of fellowship groups, and he, in turn, helped many others. He would get out of his car to talk with someone struggling or to break up a fight. He was constantly on the phone with family and friends or with real estate clients, and he was deeply embedded in his community in Rockaway and later, Bethany Beach, Delaware.

He was a devoted, lifelong Catholic and Notre Dame fan, but was ecumenical in his outlook…except for football. It would be hard to find a more inclusive, encouraging, relationship-focused person. Although his real estate business didn’t make a lot of money, he once paid for a huge “McNerney Realty” billboard, prompting a little boy to tell him “you must be the richest man in town.” He was.