Andrew Knight Foy

Andrew Knight Foy
Died Sunday August 16, 2009. He was born August 27, 1924, a son of the late Francis M. Foy and Genevieve Lynch Foy. He married Mary Merilyn Snyder in 1954 and together they had six children.
The late Mrs. Foy died in 1975, but Andrew is survived by his children and their spouses, Chris and Paula Foy of Wooster, Ohio, Kevin Foy and Nancy Feder of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Jeremy Foy of Concord, New Hampshire, Anthony and Andrea Margida of Alliance, Ohio, Greg and Leigh Foy of York, Pennsylvania, Steve and Celia Esber of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Thirteen grandchildren also survive him. His brothers, John and Frank and his sister, Mary Louise are no longer living. He was very close to his nephew, F. Martin Foy, III and wife, Kathleen of Westlake, Ohio.
Andrew Foy graduated from St. Ignatius High School and John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. He served as a second lieutenant in the Army Air Force during World War II, spending time in China and India. After the war, he worked in the tool & die business and later in the auto and steel industry. He moved his family to a Holmes County, Ohio, farm in the 1960s, raising livestock and crops. He became interested in alternative energy, and in the 1970's built an ethanol plant at the family farm. After his wife's death, he moved to Hawaii where he became involved again in business, purchasing and managing a food manufacturing company. Andrew moved back to a rural setting in his late working years, managing a horse farm in upstate New York. Although he struggled with multiple sclerosis for thirty-five years, he had an extraordinary generosity of spirit and optimism about life. He loved discussing politics and books; he thought nothing was impossible, and was known to observe, in counseling not to shrink from difficult challenges, that "anybody could do it if they had the money." He was charming and gracious, but also frank and forthright. Among those who will miss him dearly is his companion dog, Hailey, who was by his side for the last six years and also had an unusually large and diverse number of friends.
Mass in celebration of the life of Andrew Knight Foy will be at 11 a.m. on Saturday, September 12, 2009 at Sacred Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Louisville, Ohio. Contributions in lieu of flowers can be made to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.