Kevin John Keane, an educator who worked for many years with deaf and hearing-impaired students, died of complications of multiple myeloma on Sept. 27 at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quiogue. He was 74 and had been ill for three years.
Mr. Keane was born in the Bronx on Nov. 1, 1946, to John Joseph Keane and the former Mary Donahue. He grew up in Queens and served in the Army from 1966 to 1967, including a tour in Vietnam.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Queens College in 1971, he went on to earn a master’s from Hunter College in the education of the hearing and language impaired in 1973. He taught at St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf in the Bronx from 1977 to 1979 and was a teaching fellow in special education at Columbia University’s Teachers College while earning his Ph.D. at Columbia.
Before becoming superintendent at the Lexington School for the Deaf in Jackson Heights, Queens, in 1994, Mr. Keane was a project director at the Public Education Association of New York and a consultant in private practice in New York City. He remained at the Lexington School through 2003, retiring as superintendent and C.E.O. of the school, most of whose students were children of color living in poverty.
While there, he implemented sweeping reforms, leading Lexington to be recognized as a “best practices school” by the Fourth International Teaching for Intelligence Education Conference in 1998. He was cited by and contributed to many scholarly publications and was a recipient of the Elena D. Gall Memorial Award from the Council for Exceptional Children.
Mr. Keane and his longtime partner, Gerald Granozio, bought a house in East Hampton in 1992 and eventually settled here year round. Together since 1980, they were married on Sept. 12, 2016.
In East Hampton, Mr. Keane attended art classes and took up painting. He volunteered with East End Hospice for two years. He was also a gourmet cook and loved to dance.
“Kevin was a compassionate man with a generous spirit, magnetic personality, and sharp wit,” his family wrote. “He was truly a man for all seasons.”
In addition to his husband, Mr. Keane is survived by two sisters, Janet Panichi of Laguna Hills, Calif., and Maureen Keane of Austin, Tex. He is also survived by a niece, Keri Flint of Sherman Oaks, Calif., three nephews, Christopher Panichi of Dallas, Jason Mariani of Ojai, Calif., and Sean Maguire of Cibolo, Tex., and by Mr. Granozio’s children, Christopher Granozio of Manhattan and Jennifer Granozio of Beacon, N.Y. He leaves six great-nieces and great-nephews. A sister, Karen Mariani, and a niece, Alysun Panichi, died before him.
Mr. Keane was cremated. A memorial service for family and friends will be held at his house in East Hampton in the spring. Memorial contributions have been suggested to the Kanas Center, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach 11978, which was “instrumental in assuring Kevin’s final days were as peaceful as possible,” according to his family.
