Patrick J. Moynihan

Patrick J. Moynihan, a lawyer who was born in Ireland but lived most of his life in Westchester County, died on August 31 in Bronxville, N.Y. He was 95.

Patrick was born in the small town of Millstreet in County Cork on June 27, 1930 and grew up there along with four brothers. He emigrated to Britain and then to the United States, living in the Bronx and working in Manhattan.

After United States forces entered the Korean War, Patrick, who was not yet a U.S. citizen, volunteered for the draft and was sent to West Germany, where he was part of a Cold War deployment meant to counter Soviet threats. His memories from that time included winter patrols in an armed personnel carrier, when he and other soldiers slept at night beneath the sweeping boughs of giant pines that protected them from falling snow.

Later, Patrick served in Washington, D.C. as a member of the U.S. Army Honor Guard, which conducts military ceremonies at The White House and maintains a 24-hour vigil at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He left the Army after reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant.

The G.I. Bill played an instrumental role in Patrick’s education –– he went to Fordham University for an undergraduate degree and a law degree –– and he was a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

He graduated from law school in 1963 and lived on the Upper East Side while working as a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, involved in a variety of cases including one in 1964 in which a Cuban exile attempted to rush the door of the United Nations General Assembly with the announced purpose of killing Maj. Ernesto Che Guevara.

After leaving the district attorney’s office Patrick served briefly with the New York State attorney general’s office, where he was among lawyers who investigated the Attica prison uprising and the response by the authorities.

He then spent decades in private practice, as a trial lawyer in state and federal court, with clients in New York, Los Angeles and London. Much of his practice involved defending doctors and hospitals in medical malpractice cases and he became a partner at firms in Manhattan before starting his own firm in White Plains, N.Y. named after him and a partner, Stephen J. Penino.

Patrick was married for 34 years to Nancy G. Moynihan. For almost all of that time they lived in Pelham, and Pelham Manor, N.Y., where they raised three children: Colin, Brendan and Ellen. While living in Pelham, Patrick was a congregant at Our Lady of Perpetual Help church. He co-wrote the operating rules for the Pelham youth soccer league and volunteered as a coach for several years, helping to instruct dozens of boys and girls, many of whom were playing soccer for the first time.

Patrick lived in Eastchester, N.Y. and Tuckahoe, N.Y. during the last 25 years of his life. He will be missed by all who knew him.

A celebration of Patrick’s life will be held on Sunday, September 7th, from 12 to 4 pm at the Pelham Funeral Home, 64 Lincoln Avenue, Pelham, New York. A funeral Mass will follow on Monday, September 8th, at 10 am at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, 575 Fowler Avenue, Pelham Manor. Interment will be private.