James Joseph Gallagher, 77, of Vero Beach, passed away on Feb. 1, 2014.
Gallagher is survived by his wife, Ann; daughter, Maura Gallagher-Wilson (Thomas); sons, Matthew (Fabrisa), and Thomas; grandchildren, Liam Wilson, Christian, James and Anna Maria Gallagher; sister Maureen Vlack; and many nieces and nephews.
Gallagher, who went by “Jim,” was born on Aug. 29, 1936, in the Fordham section of the Bronx borough of New York City, N.Y. His parents moved to Elmhurst, Queens, N.Y., in the late 1930s and he attended Resurrection Ascension Grammar School there. He graduated from Xavier High School in Manhattan, N.Y., in 1954, and attended the University of Mississippi on a baseball scholarship.
Baseball was Gallagher’s first love and profession. He played for the New York Giants, New York Yankees, and Kansas City Athletics organizations as a pitcher.
When his pitching coach walked to the mound and told him it was “time to figure out what he was going to do for a living,” he did just that, turning to the then-burgeoning outdoor advertising industry as an account representative for NOAB, the National Outdoor Advertising Bureau. Thus began a 45-year career in advertising that included stints in account management at J. Walter Thompson in New York, N.Y, New Orleans, La., and Detroit, Mich., and culminated in 33 years as president of his own firm, Gallagher Group, Inc., from which he retired in 2005.
He and his wife of 54 years, Ann, relocated from New York City to Vero Beach and took up residence at Orchid Island Golf and Beach Club. They spent summers in and around Manhattan and Sleepy Hollow, N.Y, where they were 35-year members of Sleepy Hollow Country Club.
Gallagher was an avid reader, golfer, baseball aficionado, and grandfather. He enjoyed fine cuisine, movies, theatre, travel, his beloved New York Giants, Mets, and Rangers, people everywhere, a good martini, a good laugh and a good story – not necessarily in that order.
He was an immensely gregarious and curious man who genuinely engaged with everyone he met, regardless of his or her station in life, and charmed all with his ready wit and boundless enthusiasm for life. He was deeply loyal and generous to his many friends and family, and in contrast to his larger-than-life personality, had a notorious soft spot for babies and cats.
Gallagher was a parishioner of Holy Cross Catholic Church in Vero Beach, a 30-year member of the Metropolitan Club in New York City, and a member of both Orchid Island Golf and Beach Club and Quail Valley Golf and River Club in Vero Beach. He served on numerous boards and committees of the many clubs and organizations he supported and was very active in the Xavier High School Alumni Association.
A Service will be held at Holy Cross Catholic Church on Feb. 6, at 2 p.m., followed immediately by a reception at Orchid Island Beach Club. A Funeral Mass and Memorial Service will be held in March at the Church of St. Francis Xavier in New York City, N.Y., followed by a reception at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Scarborough, N.Y., and interment at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Gallagher’s name to Xavier High School, 30 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011. Arrangements are by Strunk Funeral Home and Crematory, Vero Beach. A guest book is available at www.strunkfuneralhome.com