Peter Michael Brennan

Peter Michael Brennan died in the early morning of May 25. A longtime resident of Huntington, New York, he and Elizabeth Brennan, his wife of 54 years, had moved to The Villages in Florida in 2020, and then to Fort Mill, South Carolina, in 2021, to be closer to family. Last November, he and Elizabeth celebrated his 80th birthday in the presence of their three daughters, two sons-in-law, and six grandchildren.

Peter was an avid family man, a devoted community member, a faithful Catholic and a loyal friend always willing to offer a hand. While reserved at first, one would quickly realize he was a lively talker with a great sense of humor. He is fondly remembered by friends and family for his stories, including many told at his own expense about his unrewarded passion for golf or boating trips that ended with the Coast Guard towing the family ashore. His favorite things to talk about, however, were his children Cynthia, Wendy, and Kerry, and his six grandchildren.

Born November 20, 1943, at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village in New York City, Peter grew up in Elmhurst, Queens as the youngest of five siblings in an Irish Catholic family. The siblings remained close their whole lives, brought together not only by weddings, funerals, and other rites of passage like an annual reunion. The Brennan Family Picnic celebrated every summer for over 50 years had many traditions Peter loved, including a wildly competitive softball game (which Peter played until well past his prime, risking injury for a chance at a home run), and an egg throwing contest (which he and Betty sadly never won). His sister Peggy and brothers Sarsfield, Paul, and Danny, preceded him in death, all in the last few years. He was close, too, to their many children, nephews and nieces whose own children he also came to know well. To all of them and many others still on Elizabeth’s side of the family he was Uncle Peter.

Peter attended St. Bartholomew Catholic School and graduated from Newtown High School in Elmhurst. He then served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War but was stationed in Germany as a typewriter repairman—the only enemy he ever faced, he liked to say, was a sticky F key. In 1970, he married fellow Newtown grad and nursing student Elizabeth Solt (aka Nurse Betty), discovering many years later that he and Betty had been in the same Latin class in high school years earlier. He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree at City College of New York and his MBA at Long Island University C.W. Post while raising a young family with Betty in Elmhurst and later in Huntington.

Professionally, Peter was always a dedicated and hardworking businessman. Beginning his career on Wall Street and in banking during the 1970s, he had a range of business and entrepreneurial roles, serving in several executive positions in the food production industry and briefly owning his own food business. He continued to work well into his 70s after developing a third or even fourth career as a technology consultant working with schools and school districts - not a common path for someone of his generation. When asked, however, he would always claim that his biggest accomplishment was that he had a hand in helping raise his three daughters and seeing them start wonderful families of their own.

He and Elizabeth were longtime members of the chorus at St. Patrick’s Church in Huntington, singing at the 9:30 a.m. Sunday folk mass, and remained lifelong friends with the others they met at St. Pats. Over the years he was involved in other church groups such as Cursillo and couples programs such as Marriage Encounter and Marriage Enrichment, and delivered Meals on Wheels (with a side of humor) to homebound seniors. Regular patrons of New Community Cinema in Huntington, he and Elizabeth were always up on the newest arthouse faves even as he remained a hardcore sports fan and close follower of the Yankees and Giants, and his favorite college football team Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish. Come March Madness, however, he watched more college basketball than foreign films. His favorite T-shirts represented the youth-sports teams on which his grandchildren played.

Retirement brought out his passion for variety and family and new hobbies. As a snowbird in the Villages and then in Fort Mill, he was an avid bridge player and enjoyed poker, dancing, and singing, and connecting with fellow veterans.

Peter suffered from Parkinson’s Disease in the last four years of his life, which started to limit his hobbies of golf and ballroom dancing, but he kept his sharp humor.

He died at home under hospice care shortly after being diagnosed with pancreatic and lung cancer.

He is survived by his wife Elizabeth Brennan of Fort Mill, South Carolina; daughter Cynthia (David Skinner) of Alexandria, Virginia; daughter Wendy (Matthew Ingrassia) of Fort Mill, SC and Kerry Brennan (Stephen Halden) of Barcelona, Spain as well as grandchildren Madeline, Ben and Thomas Skinner; Andrew John and Peter Ingrassia, and Eliana Brennan Halden, as well as many cousins, nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, Peter’s family suggests donations to an organization focused on pancreatic cancer research or Parkinson’s disease such as https://pancan.org , or https://www.michaeljfox.org