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MICHAEL J. CAHILL: The Renaissance Man

 

Michael J. Cahill had been a cross-country runner in high school 20 years ago and at 37, he was still running. Last May he came in third &emdash; behind two teenagers &emdash; in a field of 100 in the annual five-mile race in East Williston, N.Y., where he lived. (His wife, Colleen, walked it with the kids, Conor, 5, and Fiona, 2, in a double stroller.) It was typical. Mr. Cahill was good at almost everything he did.

That is why Marsh & McLennan, where he had worked for seven years and was a senior vice president and claims attorney on the 99th floor of Tower 1, promoted him posthumously to managing director.

That is why St. John's University Law School, from which he graduated in 1991, is giving him its Dean's Award on Dec. 1.

That is why neighbors in East Williston, where he joined Halloween parades, Christmas tree lightings and other doings, will put up a bench and plaque in his name on the village green, and why 1,000 friends attended a memorial Mass at St. Aidan's Roman Catholic Church in Williston Park on Oct. 1.

And that is why his children, with whom he shared music, sports and trips to the beach, and Colleen, who met him at a Hamptons share house in 1990 and adored his wit and honesty, will miss him.

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From "Profiles in Grief" of The New York Times