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Mostly Cloudy Mike Malloy, lover of family and animals, dies
Michael Stephen Malloy, 59, of East Rockaway, died on June 5 at South Nassau Communities Hospital of cardiac arrest after kidney failure brought on by complications from colon and liver cancer. Malloy, noted for his dry Celtic sense of humor, was a respected and caring soul, dear to loved ones in the human and animal kingdoms. He is the husband of Lynbrook/East Rockaway Herald editor Mary Malloy.
Born Sept. 29, 1954, in Astoria, Queens, to Robert and Doris Malloy, Mike moved with his family to Rosedale as a teenager, and attended Springfield Gardens High School, class of 1972. He moved to Dallas, Texas, in the late 1970s, and worked as a street supervisor there for the City of Irving for two decades.
Malloy reconnected with his high school friend, Mary, in 2000, culminating in Mike’s move back to New York. Their relationship actually dates back 50 years, when they were in the same 4th-grade class at P.S. 138 in Rosedale. In high school, his sister, Carol, was Mary’s best friend, and her brother drove them to parties and to the beach.
Even with all that, it was another 28 years before he asked Mary out on a date.
They married on July 3, 2003, at the Bethany Congregational Church in East Rockaway. It was there, on that altar, where a service of remembrance and thanksgiving for his life was held almost 11 years later, on June 14, attended by dozens of loved ones.
“We were luckier than most,” Mary said. “Even though our fairy tale was like everyone else’s — full of family and financial issues — we were always aware of what we had.”
The Rev. Mark Lukens said at the June 14 service that “the gifts Mike brought cannot be diminished.
“The truth is, he was a very wealthy man, rich in the things that matter, because of all those who surrounded him in life. His life was a blessed and big life, a life that mattered.”
Love of animals began at an early age; his mother and father raised and bred German Shepherds. Mike started working at North Shore Animal League America as a dog trainer in the fall of 2001, doing what he loved: working with animals. He eventually worked his way up to being NSALA’s manager of pet behavior and rescue.
