James Rhatigan, Floral Park’s deputy mayor and a longtime civic leader there, died of cancer Dec. 28. He was 63.
Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens Village, Rhatigan lived in Floral Park since 1977.
He first took his seat on the Village Board representing the village’s south side in 2005, when then-Mayor Phil Guarnieri appointed him to fill the trustee seat he vacated.
Guarnieri was “charmed” by Rhatigan’s “scintillating wit, his capacity for friendship and his natural affinity for public service,” he wrote in an essay remembering Rhatigan.
Rhatigan served as president of the South Side Civic Association and for 12 years helped lead the Citizens Party, Floral Park’s dominant local political party.
As a civic leader and political campaigner, Guarnieri wrote, he stayed calm under pressure and treated disagreements graciously, without a trace of animadversion and recrimination.”
On the Village Board, Rhatigan was a “sage counsel” who could succinctly analyze complex issues and “get right to the kernel of the problem,” Floral Park Mayor Thomas Tweedy said.
“He just had a compassionate view of the world,” said Tweedy, who served with Rhatigan for all of his tenure on the board. “He really liked people and was concerned about them, and that really was his touchstone. That’s what guided him, were his principles of compassion and humanity.”
Rhatigan remained active in Floral Park’s opposition to video lottery terminals, or VLTs, at Belmont Park through the end of his life, Tweedy said.
In 2007, when former Republican state Sen. Dean Skelos first proposed a video casino there, Rhatigan was selected to chair a village task force on development at the Elmont racetrack on Floral Park’s border.
His leadership helped that group produce a statement of principles that has guided the village’s stance on Belmont proposals since then, Tweedy said.
In early December, when the Village Board was deadlocked on whether to hire law firm Beveridge & Diamond to challenge Nassau Regional Off-Track Betting’s most recent VLT plans, Rhatigan joined the discussion via webcam from the hospital.
He was happy to participate, Tweedy said, and his input led to the board’s unanimous decision to hire the firm.
“You’re remembered for the last thing you did, and the last thing he did was brave, was courageous and in the best interest of the village,” Tweedy said.
An active Catholic, Rhatigan was highly involved with Floral Park’s Knights of Columbus chapter and took on duties within the organization at the county and state level.
He also led members on pilgrimages to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Island in Manorville.
Rhatigan’s faith undergirded his strong character, Guarnieri wrote, sustaining him after the sudden death of his late wife Patricia and through his illness.
“I spoke with him several times during his terminal descent and whatever sorrow, anger and fear he must have felt was conspicuously reserved to the silent sanctuary of his own inner thoughts,” Guarnieri wrote.
Rhatigan managed softball teams in the Floral Park Little League and coached soccer teams for the Floral Park Indians Athletic League.
He was also active on the Queens Village-Hollis Volunteer Ambulance Corps before moving to Floral Park.
Rhatigan is survived by his wife Diane Wren Rhatigan; mother Marie; children Kathleen Michaelides, Elizabeth Jarosch, Margaret Rhatigan, Martin Wren and Meghan Wren; and grandchildren Dean, Lucas and Lily.
He was honored with a funeral mass Dec. 31 at Our Lady of Victory Church in Floral Park and buried at a private interment.
