Eileen Patricia Sharkey

Eileen P. Sharkey of Stamford, CT passed away quietly on August 11, 2025 at her home in Stamford, CT after several years of declining health. She was 72 years old.

A proud "Jersey Girl", Eileen was born July 31, 1953, the sixth child of Thomas Dunne and Doris Halliwell Sharkey of North Caldwell, NJ and Fairfield, CT. In 1971, she graduated from Mount St. Dominic Academy in Caldwell, NJ and went on to earn a BA from Stonehill College in Easton, MA in 1975. After a short stint as lead singer with a popular music dance band, she started a career in corporate marketing and employee communications with Olin Corporation in Stamford, CT in 1976. She went on to work with major organizations such as GE Capital Corporation and Unilever/Chesebrough-Pond's before starting her own communications and project management consulting practice in 1998, which she managed for 13 years. Eileen finished her career with the law firm of Morrison Mahoney LLP in Bridgeport, CT.

Beyond her work, Eileen's great passion was genealogy. Her research extended back four or more generations and her large, printed genealogy charts are on the walls of many extended family members. Her focus on family also led Eileen to brighten every birthday in her large extended family with funny and beautiful cards that were always accompanied by a bit of wisdom. In one recent card to a young relative, she wrote:

"'Help thy brother's boat across, and lo, thine own has reached the shore!' Your great-grandfather who we called 'Jake' used to quote this Chinese proverb all the time and it has stuck with me over the years, always bringing a smile! Have you ever wondered, though, how you can make the world a better place at your age? Well, simply being kind is a great place to start".

Eileen considered her greatest accomplishment to be raising her daughter, Rory Dunne Sharkey of Stamford, CT, who survives her. She is also survived by her siblings, their partners and families: Heather and David Kostka of Colts Neck, NJ; Thomas and Eileen Sharkey of Milton, MA; Maura and Tod Eagle of Brockport, NY; Brian Sharkey and Lorraine Lombardi of Bloomfield, NJ; Mary Lee and Joseph Gaffney of Hamden, CT, and J. Brendan Sharkey and Diane Reynolds of Guilford, CT. She was predeceased by her parents and her brother, Kevin Sharkey.

At Eileen's request, there will be no wake, funeral or memorial services, and interment in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in East Hanover, NJ will take place at a later date. In lieu of flowers or donations, she asked simply that you do something kind for a stranger.