Paul Michael Galanka

Paul Michael Galanka

White Plains - Paul Michael (Mike) Galanka passed away on January 4, 2018 after battling congestive heart failure for several years. He was born on Sept. 4, 1942 in New London, CT. He graduated from Roosevelt High School in Yonkers, NY in 1960, and was on the all-city football team. He attended Taylor University in Indiana in 1961 and was a starting running back on the football team. He graduated from Boston University in 1965 where he majored in history and was on the BU football team.

He earned an M.S. in European History from Manhattan College in 1974, and he was a social studies teacher in the Ardsley School District from 1968-2008. He was also a track coach at Ardsley High School from 1970-79, and a football coach at Ardsley H.S. from 1970-72, and a track and field coach at Greenwich H.S. from 2008-2010.

He was a football coach at Fordham Univ. from 1973-78 and in 1980 he began a long career as a track and field coach at Fordham Univ. and continued there coaching special field events until 2014.

Mike spent his childhood summers on Lake Champlain in Vermont, and many winters ski racing there. He eventually bought 2 small inns in VT that he set up as rental properties, and he enjoyed spending his summers working on the inns and barns.

He is survived by his sister, Alice Marie Galanka, of Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico.

He set up the Robert Davenport Football Scholarship at Taylor Univ. and contributions may be sent to The Office of Scholarship and Stewardship, Taylor University, 236 W. Reade Ave., Upland, Indiana 46989.