Raymond E. Meagher, 88 years old of Millbrook, NY, passed away on Friday, February 24 at Vassar Brothers Medical Center due to various medical complications. He was born on July 21, 1934, to Raymond E. Meagher, Sr., and Florence Coupe Meagher and spent the majority of his youth growing up on Garfield Place in the City of Poughkeepsie. In high school, Ray attended the Hill School in Pottstown, PA, moving on to Cornell University where he graduated in 1957.
Upon college graduation, Ray joined the US Marine Corp as Second Lieutenant. He was very proud of his military service in the Marine Corp. Upon discharge, he began his career at Wolf and Munier, a large mechanical construction firm in New York City.
In 1961, he moved back to Poughkeepsie to join his older brother, Henry Meagher at the company in which his brother founded, the former Mechanical Construction Corporation on Water Street in the City of Poughkeepsie. For nearly 40 years, they operated this highly successful and respected mechanical contractor/HVAC company, which ultimately played a role in the construction of facilities at Stewart Newburgh Airport, the Culinary Institute of America, Vassar College, and various IBM facilities including their World Headquarters in Armonk, NY.
It was also around this time of his return to Poughkeepsie that he met a young, beautiful Vassar College student originally from the Philadelphia Main Line. In 1963, he married that girl, Margaret (Bonnie) MacInnes, and were blessed with nearly sixty years of a very beautiful marriage.
In addition to his business acumen, Ray was an accomplished athlete who particularly loved tennis and skiing. He was a long-standing member of the Millbrook Golf & Tennis Club. In 1966, his passion for skiing lead he and his brother to embark on a project that carved rock out of a hill in Fayston, Vermont, ultimately building the family’s “Mad Chalet” at Mad River Glen. He skied well into his 80s, proudly competing with this son and grandson in MRG’s fabled family ski tournament (jokingly, he would complain that the tournament should have been judged on a sliding scale, since he quite often was the oldest grandfather on the slopes).
Beloved and respected by many, Ray enriched people’s lives with a true sense of authenticity, genuine care and deep-seated generosity.
Ray was predeceased by his elder siblings; his sister Jeanne Kane (brother-in-law Hon. T. Paul Kane, both formerly of Cobleskill, NY) and Henry Meagher (sister-in-law Janice, both formerly of Hyde Park, NY). He is survived by his wife, Bonnie, and two sons, Ranald (Ran) MacInnes Meagher (and his long-time partner, Ulka Patel of Red Hook) as well as James (Jamie) Stewart Meagher (New York City). Ray is also survived by his grandson, the light of his life, John (Jack) Mulvey Meagher (son of Ran and a freshman at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY) as well as an adoring (ex)daughter-in-law, Ann Meagher (Millbrook). He is also survived by many wonderful nieces and nephews, and special extended families of friends related to his more than fifty years in Mad River Glen in the Green Mountains of Vermont, and more than forty years spent wonderful summers at Squam Lake in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
Visitation will be held at 3270 Franklin Ave., Millbrook, NY on Wednesday, March 1 from 4-7 pm. A Mass of Christian Burial in his honor will be offered on Thursday, March 2 at 10 am from St. Joseph’s Church, North Ave., Millbrook. Interment with military honors will follow at Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Foundation for Vassar Brothers Medical Center.
