Joseph Peters Pylman

Joseph Peters Pylman
Syracuse/New Hartford
Joseph Peters Pylman, of New Hartford and Dewitt, died in Syracuse on Sunday, December 18, 2011. His immediate family, extended family and dearest friends - some thirty-some-odd loved ones in total - crowded into his hospital room as he died of the unexpected sickness that claimed his life. He was thirty years old. The tremendous outpouring of love and support extended by family and countless friends during his final days serve testament to his pure goodness, charisma and selflessness. These traits considered with his brilliant mind define his legacy on this earth. Joe attended Oxford Road Elementary and New Hartford High School. He was both academically remarkable and socially gifted. He graduated from high school with high honors, but more importantly with scores of life-long friends. The best teachers admired him, his friends considered him a brother and all loved him. While we might be saddened to think that so many of our relationships in this world are fleeting or ephemeral, that sometimes-reality was not true for Joe and those in his life. Joe not only developed friendships, but his prodigious capacity for personal connection meant that he also protected and sustained them, even as he struggled with the disease that delivered him to heaven. So natural and habitual was it for Joe to put others first, that he never imagined troubling loved ones with the personal health problems he quietly and courageously battled. The purity of his extroversion drove him close to people, but it also buffeted him to thoughts and ideas, to academia, to sports, to politics and to the practice of law. He read voraciously and closely followed current events, and so it followed that he was always informed, always present in conversation and always possessed of insight and perspective. He loved the New York Rangers, the San Francisco 49ers, the Syracuse Orange and the Cornell Big Red; he enjoyed history and political commentary. He was endowed with preternatural patience and good judgment, a knack for quickly becoming close to those newly acquainted, and a bigness of heart and soul that explained his love and concern for others. His friends, family and colleagues sought his advice and approval. And his utter humility, humor and easy-going disposition drew people into his life and made them all the better off for having known him. Joe is a 2004, magna cum laude graduate of Cornell Universitys School of Industrial Labor and Relations, where he was editor-in-chief of the Cornell Review and member of Alpha Sigma Phi (Rockledge) fraternity. He was a 2008, cum laude graduate of Syracuse University College of Law, where he was senior notes editor of the Syracuse Law Review, senior associate editor of the Labor Lawyer, member of the law student senate, and recipient of the highest course grade for contracts, labor law, legal communications and torts. Joe is survived by his brothers, Jake and John; his parents, Allen and Celeste; his grandmothers, Lucy Peters and Char Pylman; and his aunts, uncles, cousins and many dear friends. He will be missed forever. Calling hours to celebrate Joes life will be held Wednesday, December 21st, from 3:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Dimbleby, Friedel, Williams & Edmunds Funeral Home at 13 Oxford Road in New Hartford. A funeral service will be held at St. Johns the Evangelist Church, 66 Oxford Road, on Thursday, December 22nd, at 12 noon. All are welcomed and encouraged to attend. In lieu of flowers, the family is accepting donations to the Joseph P. Pylman, Esq., Memorial Fund, which will be used to fund an educational scholarship in Josephs memory. Online messages of sympathy, go to www.dfwefh.com.