Daniel James Dineen

Jim Dineen always liked to point out that he was born two blocks from Yankee Stadium, one day before Babe Ruth hit his 60^th home run of the 1927 season. He later spent the better part of his life in Center Moriches, trying to make every day a special occasion for all the people there.

Mr. Dineen touched all the bases in his adopted hometown. He devoted himself to the community’s religious, civic, recreational and athletic activities, all with a genial smile. He died at 94 on Feb. 5, following a long illness. He will be fondly remembered and deeply missed in every corner of Center Moriches.

Daniel James Dineen, was born in the Bronx to a mother who had come from Galway, Ireland as a teenager and married a man from an Irish neighborhood in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. That he would come into the world just as the great baseball player hit his then-record 60^th home run (at a time when 20 home runs in a season was considered extraordinary) suggested Jim often would be connected with all things special.

He withstood the Great Depression, moving with his parents six times and attending seven grammar schools. Eventually, he wound up at St. Ann’s Academy in Manhattan as a classmate of future basketball coaching legend Lou Carnesecca.

In another example of great timing, Mr. Dineen joined the Navy at 17 years old, only two months before Japan surrendered. After World War II, he attended Pace College (now Pace University) and first showed his dramatic flair by co-creating a repertory company, the Torch Bearers.

After graduation, he entered the workforce as a salesman for Douglas Leigh in midtown. He spent three years selling medical supplies in New England.

He considered it his best piece of timing in 1954, when his family left the city and bought a restaurant/bar in Ridge. There, he met Mary Burke, a registered nurse who worked for 40 years in hospitals and schools. Their marriage lasted 57 years, until her death in 2011.

The couple moved to Center Moriches in 1964 and raised three children: sons Brian, a teacher in Riverhead, and Rory, a FedEx executive, and daughter Marigrace, a singer who cared for her father in his final years. The couple was proudest of their children’s achievements and their children credited their parents’ inspiration. Early on, Jim helped support his family with a new job, selling pharmaceuticals for Lederle Laboratories (which later would become part of Pfizer). He won many awards for salesmanship.

But to his fellow residents, he was best known for tireless volunteer work. He and Mary were active parishioners at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church. Jim taught religious education for 20 years and was a longtime lector, reading scripture at Mass.

He was a fervent supporter of Center Moriches Little League. In the 1960s, when word spread that the field was about to be replaced by an office building, he joined with George Herrmann and Dr. John Flattery in taking out a mortgage to preserve the youth baseball facility. They all put up their own homes as collateral.