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JOHN J. DOHERTY: Always Time for Golf

 

John J. Doherty was one of those guys who loved golf so much that he would sleep in his van to be sure and get a good tee time at Westchester County's public courses. "John would get there at 3 or 4 in the morning" said Tom Beaudrot, a friend of Mr. Doherty's for two decades. "We would sit there in the parking lot sleeping, drinking coffee."

Mr. Doherty, 58, was a vice president for Aon in the trade center. Mary Doherty, Mr. Doherty's wife, said that on Sundays, Mr. Doherty and Barbara, his eldest daughter, who was born with developmental disabilities, would travel from their home in Hartsdale, N.Y., to a driving range. In the summers, Mr. Doherty took Barbara, now 16, and Maureen, his other daughter, now 13, for walks in Vermont.

"He would take the girls into the woods and find them walking sticks and skip rocks across mountain streams with them," Mrs. Doherty said.

But still, if there was time for a little golf, "he would sneak off to Vermont and take lessons," Mr. Beaudrot said.

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From "Profiles in Grief" of The New York Times