Philip James Cooley, who had a career as a City of New York hospital administrator, died in Medford on June 5 of complications resulting from a stroke over the winter. He was 84.
Mr. Cooley, who had been living in East Northport recently, lived most of his life in Queens, “but he felt most at home in Montauk, where he was a summer resident since his childhood, when his family started camping at Ditch Plains,” his family said.
He was born in Flushing on May 27, 1941, to Leo Patrick Cooley and the former Alice Denning. After earning a bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University, he served in the Army from 1964 to 1966, and was honorably discharged.
He and Bobbie Gail McClean were married in 1967 and raised their three children in Bayside. As a hospital administrator, he was assigned to Greenpoint Hospital in Brooklyn and later to Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, where he served until his retirement.
Mr. Cooley “will be remembered for his hearty laughter and his engaging conversation, not only because of the thoughtful way that he spoke, but because of the truly engaged way that he listened,” his family wrote in an online tribute. He gladly took the time “to learn about people, places, or events,” they said, and enjoyed “a good meal with family, long walks (especially on the beach in Montauk or anywhere in the city), and making perfect omelets.”
“He took the greatest pride in his children and grandchildren, which, in one of his many thoughtful letters, he called his ‘true happiness.’ ” He counted among his pleasures reading stories to his grandsons, Jack and Tristan Irace.
He is also survived by his wife, two sons, Patrick Cooley and Philip Cooley of Flushing, a daughter, Alice Cooley of Sag Harbor, and her husband, Carl Irace, and by two siblings, Mary Kubler of Whitestone, Queens, and Joseph Cooley of Iowa. Two brothers, John and Leo, died before him.
A funeral Mass was said on Saturday at St. Andrew Avellino Catholic Church in Flushing. Burial followed at Mount St. Mary Cemetery, also in Flushing.
