Peter Fitzpatrick

Peter Fitzpatrick, age 91 of Wayne, died on Friday, October 14, 2022 with loving family by his side.

Peter was born and raised in County Cavan, Ireland, the youngest of Peter and Mary (McGuire) Fitzpatrick’s five children. As young men, Peter and his brother John made the life-changing decision in May 1957, to leave their homeland in Ireland to pursue the opportunities that life in the United States had to offer. Like other Irish immigrants, they got their foot in the door by agreeing to play football in the Gaelic Football League in the Bronx, NY. No doubt, they loved playing football but they were also motivated by the fact that, in exchange for moving to America to play, this league helped young men like Peter and John to get jobs and ultimately, citizenship.

Peter and John’s first jobs in America were working as elevator operators at Prudential Insurance in Newark. While there, Peter had the greatest fortune of meeting a young lady named Marilyn Ann Murphy. Their relationship sparked a courtship and they were married in 1961 at St. Mary’s Church in Elizabeth. After their honeymoon in Miami, they settled in Kearny before moving to Wayne in 1964.

Peter eventually was offered a membership with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 68 where he learned to be a boiler maker and operating engineer. He enjoyed a long and prosperous career in the union and was able to retire in 1993 at the age of 62.  

Peter was a proverbial “animal whisperer” who enjoyed his share of shelties throughout his life and one feisty chihuahua. It was therefore no surprise that after retiring, he took a part-time job with the Township of Wayne as the town dog catcher. If there was truly such as thing as reincarnation, Peter may have been a dog in a previous life. He was the perfect dog catcher because he had an innate understanding of how they thought and felt. Even the fiercest dogs were putty in Peters hands. For that matter, he was just as effective with feral cats or any creature that walked, flew, crawled, or slithered.

Peter’s gifts and talents were seemingly endless. He was tough as nails, he could build or fix anything, and was always willing to be of assistance to his family, a friend or neighbor. He even built an addition on his own home. In all these types of endeavors, his sense of humor always came out. For example, one time he was inspecting his neighbors old-fashioned wooden gutters. He found them to be fairly rotten and, after accessing the situation he came back with his report explaining, “they’re pretty rotten and you’d be too, if you were hanging up there all those years.”  Peters garden was another of his great achievements, the secret of his prize tomatoes being the fresh horse manure that he picked up from a local farm in Oakland. He’d load the still steaming manure into the lined trunk of his Plymouth Valiant, take it home, and work it into the soil.

Peter was a generous man who liked to volunteer and be of service. For 40 years, he coached for the St. Joseph Gaelic Football Club and, for those 40 years of service, he humbly received a much-deserved award. Many would agree that it was something Peter sincerely enjoyed. After all, football was in his blood! Every year he’d go back to Ireland to visit his family and to attend the All-Ireland Gaelic Football Final – the veritable “Super Bowl” of Irish Gaelic football. He always rooted for County Cavan and other Ulster teams and always against County Kerry!!

Peter and Marilyn enjoyed their share of travel throughout the years. Vacations in the Catskills (dubbed “The Irish Alps” by Peter) were high on the list of his favorite destinations. The family also liked Point Pleasant down the Jersey shore. Just a few years ago, he and Marilyn got to go on a grand European tour visiting Holland, Germany, Switzerland as well as several other destinations, and he loved it.

Generally quiet, yet certainly a sociable lad, Peter had several favorite topics of discussion. These included stories about his work, his family life in Ireland and in America, and anything to do with the New York Yankees (especially Derek Jeter), but also the Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies and really baseball in general. Oh! And of course, Irish Football. He enjoyed a pint of Guinness and, quite surprisingly, he also liked to drink Budweiser – a taste he might have acquired from his days when he worked for the union at Anheuser-Busch, and every week he went home with a free case of Bud! Part of drinking beer is enjoying it with friends and acquaintances. That is why Peter enjoyed taking bus trips into New York City to go pub hopping- mostly to his son’s Irish pubs of course. On some occasions his daughter Julie would join him and together they’d take a tour of the city on one of those double-decker bus tours. Throughout his entire life, Peter was also an avid walker. It was an activity that he was doing up until the last ten months of his life and most recently, his daily walks were like clockwork – about 20 minutes a day.

Above and beyond any interest in Peter’s life, his greatest love was for his family and friends. He touched the lives of many people and will be sincerely missed by everyone that knew him.  
 
Peter was predeceased by his beloved wife of 50 years Marilyn (Murphy) in 2011. He is survived by his son; Peter Fitzpatrick and his wife Eileen (Shea) of Far Hills, NJ, his daughter; Julie Fitzpatrick and husband Steven Singer of Whippany NJ, three grandchildren; Shea Julia, Peter Murphy, and Kelly Marie Fitzpatrick, all of Far Hills; his eldest brother, Patrick Fitzpatrick and wife Cissie of Ireland; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his sister Mary Ann Cassidy and her husband Mickey, two brothers: Hugh “Hughie” Fitzpatrick and John Fitzpatrick and his wife Anna.

Those who are unable to attend the funeral services in person are invited to join virtually via the livestream link found on the Our Lady Of Consolation Church Facebook page here.

Those planning an expression of sympathy in Peter’s name are asked to consider:
Eva’s Village
393 Main Street
Paterson, NJ 07501