Longtime Daily News financial executive Hugh Brennan dies at age 85
Hugh F. Brennan, a longtime financial executive who worked for Daily News for more than a half-century, died at his home in Mahopac, New York, on Thursday.
He was 85. No cause of death was given.
Hugh Brennan is pictured during a Michael Brennan Spirit Award presentation during the Outback Steakhouse Empire Challenge at Hofstra University in 2004. (Frank Koester/)
Though trained as a registered nurse, Brennan kept that in his back pocket as a contingency should his first career choice not work out, according to a family obituary.
Luckily for the Daily News, it did. He not only served as a financial executive at the tabloid for 52 years, but also would regularly volunteer at the annual Daily News Golden Gloves boxing event. When he retired, his half-century-plus years of service put him in second place for tenure. Only cartoonist Bill Gallo logged more time.
That stretch almost equaled his 53-year marriage to Helen Lenihan, who he wed in 1969.
Hugh (R) and Patrica Brennan (L) both graduated as registered nurses from the Hopfer School of Nursing. Michael Brennan is pictured at center. (Jack Smith/)
The son of Irish immigrants, Brennan was born in the Bronx on Jan. 23, 1937.
His volunteer work with the boxing event was just one facet of a life of service. Brennan also served with the Army National Guard, and after moving to Mahopec with his family in 1973, served as “an active parishioner of St. John the Evangelist Church, volunteering in its food pantry and taking on other tasks at the church,” his family said in the obituary. In addition, Brennan spent time as a board member of Friends and Family Supporting Cystic Fibrosis, and supported the Boomer Esiason Foundation.
“Aside from Hugh’s volunteer work, his life was spent helping others,” his family said. “His greatest joy in life was time spent with his grandchildren.”
The Michael Brennan Spirit Award is given to New York City and Long Island trainers (in white and red) in 2006. Top L-R: Joseph Killeen, Boomer Esiason, Hugh Brennan, Aldo Parcesepe, Mike Wulforst, Jeffery Corben and Robert Sullivan. Bottom L-R: Chris Kalinoglu, Whittney Smith, Joseph Killeen and Jim Zegers. (Frank Koester/)
Brennan is survived by his wife, as well as daughter Patricia Cesario and her husband, John; brothers James and William Brennan; sister Catherine Jones; grandchildren Michael, John and Sophia, and several nieces and nephews. His son Michael died on May 27, 1999.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Tuesday at 10 a.m. at Our Lady Queen of Angel’s Chapel of St. John the Evangelist Church in Mahopac. Interment will follow at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, N.Y.
The family asked that in lieu of flowers, people consider donating in his memory to Friends and Family Supporting Cystic Fibrosis or to the Boomer Esiason Foundation.
