Michael Fitzgerald

Michael Fitzgerald peacefully passed away on September 17, 2025. Born in the Bronx on June the 8th, 1942 and a lifelong Yankee fan, it is poignant that he should ultimately succumb to a brief and courageous battle with Lou Gehrig's disease. A grateful and infectiously joyous person, Michael surely considered himself to be the luckiest man alive. An iron horse in his own right, he was a member of the Silent Generation, known for its resilience, patriotism, and duty, and he certainly embodied those noble traits.

Michael proudly hailed from the Bronx, frequently regaling his wife, Virginia ("Ginny"), and sons, Sean, Mark, and Matthew, with tales of stickball and pizza on Arthur Avenue. He was the classic New York combination of Italian on his mother's side and Irish on his father's, and he used to say that his stomach came from the former and his love of literature from the latter. He attended Mount Saint Michael Academy, where he took such pleasure in watching his granddaughter, Madeleine, compete in track meets over 65 year later. Michael then attended Iona College, the first member of his family go to college, and graduated from Fordham University School of Law. While at Fordham, he met the love of life, Ginny, who recently said that when they met, they immediately "knew." They were married for nearly 58 years.

Following law school, Michael served his country as a Military Police Officer in Korea during the Vietnam War and then went on to zealously, thoughtfully, and ethically serve his clients as a litigator in Manhattan for nearly half a century. His sons often reverently compared him to Atticus Finch because of his moral rectitude, and family and friends continually sought his sage advice, legal and otherwise, which he dispensed freely and generously. Often enough, that advice was on the baseball diamond, where he served as a little league coach for a decade, eventually becoming the commissioner. He famously steered his team, Weldons, to three championships, one with each son. Michael also served as the Village Justice and as a member of the Zoning Board in the town where he raised his family, Briarcliff Manor, NY.

It was Michael's family that was his true life's work, and he set the ideal example of husband and father for his children. He loved his wife and sons with uncommon intensity and supported their pursuits without judgement and always with words of encouragement. Michael was an articulate man, but he had a monk-like discipline to remain silent and to allow those around him to shine. It is this rare quality that so many people have commented on in the wake of his death. What has emerged is the portrait of a man who was profoundly influential to so many, well beyond his immediate family.

Michael's son Sean welcomed him into heaven with a bowl of pretzels, a dry martini, and an argument about the Yankees. Michael is survived by his wife, Virginia, two sons, Mark (Morgan) and Matthew (Lindsay), and his grandchildren, Madeleine, Marina, Maisie, Teddy, Oliver, and Sawyer.

The Mass of the Resurrection will be held on Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Theresa's Church, 1394 Pleasantville Road, Briarcliff Manor, NY.