Philip J. Kennedy

1932 - 2018

Philip James Kennedy passed away October 18, 2018, with two daughters at his side. He was 86 years old. The eldest son of Philip James Kennedy, Sr. and Jennie (Szerlog) Kennedy, he was born October 3, 1932, in Boston, MA. He graduated from Hyde Park High School in Boston in 1950. Phil ("Buddy" to his family) was a Veteran of the U.S. Army, assigned to active duty at Fort Bliss in El Paso, TX, and New Mexico from 1953 to 1955. He was discharged from the U.S. Army Reserves in 1961. He met his wife of 62 years, Marilyn Heavey, on a Boston streetcar; they wed on September 13, 1953, and began their married life in El Paso. Phil later graduated from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where he received a degree of Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering (1959) and was a member of Tau Beta Pi. In 1959 he joined the Battery Products Division of Union Carbide Corporation, which later became Everyday Battery Company, and he rose through its ranks to become its President in1984. In 1986, he played an important role in the successful transition of Eveready to Ralston Purina. He held the position of President and Chief Operating Officer of Eveready Battery Company and Vice President of Ralston Purina until his retirement in January 1991. Over his 31-year career in the battery business, Phil traveled all over the United States and world. He and Marilyn raised their family in homes in Vermont, Ohio and Connecticut. Phil loved golf, furniture making and refinishing, spy novels and traveling with Marilyn. He was an ardent fan of the Boston Red Sox, the Boston Bruins and the Cleveland Browns. He is predeceased by his wife, Marilyn, and his daughters, Sara and Laura. He is survived by his two oldest daughters, Janet Kennedy of West Hartford, and her children, Alex and Sophie Kim; and Karen McCann of Palm Beach Gardens, FL, her husband Michael McCann, and their children, Matthew and Katherine McCann. He is also survived by his brothers, Michael Kennedy and family and Thomas Kennedy and family. The family wishes to thank the staffs of Caleb Hitchcock Health Center and Hartford Hospital's Conklin Building, 5th Floor for their caring and attentive care. A memorial service will be held to celebrate Phil's life at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, December 28, 2018, in the Chapel of Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, with a reception to follow nearby. Memorial contributions may be made to The Nature Conservancy, Long Island Sound Project, ? The Nature Conservancy, 55 Church Street, Floor 3, New Haven, CT 06510-3029. Please write, In memory of Philip Kennedy, in the memo line.