Neal J. Morse

Neal J. Morse, 82, passed away peacefully at Samaritan Hospital in Troy, NY, on Friday, August 23, 2024. His family is truly grateful for the compassionate care he (and they) received during his time there.
Neal was born in Brooklyn on June 25,1942, to Irving and Helen Morse. Neal liked to say that before the family name was "Morse" it was "Mashewitz" (which is true) and before that "it was something 36-letters long" (which is less true). He is the older brother of Ruth, whom he always introduced as "my much older sister." Despite this, Ruth says she couldn't ask for a better big brother.
Growing up, Neal was a very good student. Because he did so well in science, the family physician wanted Neal to become a doctor. Neal, however, was not interested because he didn't like blood. Eschewing a career in medicine, he went to Columbia Law School.
Neal was a lawyer for many years, first in private practice and then retiring from the Queens District Attorney's office after 20 years of service. As an assistant district attorney in the Homicide Division, Neal used to get a kick out of watching episodes of Law & Order that were based on cases he had worked. Those cases, he said, tended to get solved a lot faster on television than in real life.
For 23 years, Neal was married to Helene. Together they had a daughter, Jackie. When Jackie was little, part of "bedtime routine" was Dad reading to her. This instilled in her a lifelong love of stories. When she was older, Neal and Jackie would buy a stack of superhero comics every week and spend the afternoon reading them. It was only when she went to college and started buying comics with her own money that she realized her dad had been supporting her very (very) expensive habit.
Over his lifetime, Neal had many loves. He loved being a New Yorker and eating at different restaurants in walking distance from his apartment. He loved going to the harness races so much that after he retired, he owned several racehorses. He loved old country music (not the newfangled stuff) and going to blues festivals. He loved having a pair of season tickets for the New York Jets and taking folks to games. He loved driving his car. He loved smoking his pipe and sipping scotch. Mostly, he loved his family, especially his grandsons, nephews, and nieces, and his very dear companion of 26 years, Jo Lynne.
Neal spent the last few years of his life as a resident in Peregrine Senior Living in Delmar, where he was well-known for his humor. Despite not trusting technology newer than fax machines, Neal allowed his son-in-law Brett to give him a cell phone, which he used more often than not. Even as his health declined, Neal made it a point to speak to his friend Marvin weekly to swap commiserations and tales of curmudgeonhood. He talked to Jo Lynne daily. Their love spanned decades and states, and it grew stronger every day.
Neal is survived by his daughter Jackie (Brett) Kessler, his grandsons Ryan Kessler and Mason Kessler, and his sister Ruth (the late Michael) Marvin.
Funeral services for Neal will be held graveside on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, at 1:00 pm at Beth Emeth Cemetery, 58 Turner Lane, Loudonville, NY.
Instead of flowers, donations can be made in Neal's name to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which is dedicated to inspiring a love of reading by gifting books each month to children from birth to age five, free of charge.
As Neal would say, "And that's the story."
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