John C. Tuffy

John Charles Tuffy July 31, 1938 – September 4, 2023

John Charles Tuffy, of Endwell, NY passed away on September 4, 2023.

Born at St Catherine’s Hospital, Brooklyn, NY to John James Tuffy (Co Sligo, Ireland) and Anne Christine (nee Kean) Tuffy (NYC). John grew up on Greenpoint Ave across the street from St Raphael’s Church and next to the family bar, Tuffy’s Tavern Long Island City (Queens), NY He graduated St Anthony of Padua School (elementary), and St Francis Preparatory School before attending St Peters University – how happy was he to see his Peacocks reach the Elite Eight during the 2022 NCAA tournament! His love of the sea began as a boy spending summers on the North Fork of Long Island in Mattituck and a memorable trip across the ocean at 12 years old to his father’s home in Co Sligo, Ireland. Unable to resist the lure of the water he joined the US Navy as an officer graduating from officer’s training school in 1959, achieving the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, upon his honorable discharge from the Navy. After the Navy, John began a career with pen and typewriter, first as a journalist and then as a “PR” man which took him around the country and the globe; communicating lunar landings at Mission Control to producing award winning annual reports. Beckoned again by the sea, John retired early and moved from California to the BVI to fulfill the dream of owning a charter sailboat operation. Hurricanes blew him back to the mainland first to Florida, and then the mountains of North Carolina and Georgia before settling back in upstate New York (Endwell) where IBM first lured him and his young family in the 1960’s. Settling back to Upstate, and far from the sea, John’s love of writing never waned and until the end his prolific pen was at work writing stories, beginnings of novels, letters to the editor, email commentary on the days’ events and notably a memoir, ‘The Yank’. He is survived by his loving wife Leslie (nee Gross), sister Joan Quinn Roache, children Moira Kean Tuffy (Richard Witt), AnnMarye Cristine Carnes and Timothy John Tuffy (Ellen Nemmers), granddaughters Cassandra Sweet, Genevieve and Evangeline ‘Coco’ Tuffy, nieces Tara Franco, Tracey Pesale, nephew Dennis Quinn and many grandnieces and cousins. A Memorial Service will be held 3:00 pm, Sunday, September 17, 2023, at Good Shepard Villages, 32 Village Drive, Endwell, NY 13760. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Lawrence Hall (www.lawrencehall.org/donate)

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