Timothy P. Gallagher ’90

Timothy P. Gallagher, Garden City/Rockville Center, NY, died January 23, 2024, of cancer.

When Timmy was in the middle of a cancer diagnosis, he did what his friends imagined he would do: he booked a trip to Indonesia to surf the famous waves. He went to Wake Forest to celebrate his daughter Riley’s graduation this past May and charmed everyone with his sense of humor, good nature, and love of classic rock. He chased storms in Costa Rica with his sons Shayne and Timmy. And he focused his energy on the love of his life, Kendall.

Timmy was naturally magnetic and had a successful career of over 20 years brokering interest rate swaps. It was a perfect career for a kid from Rockville Centre, NY, who began his professional life working at his family’s shipyard. The third of eight kids, Timmy had the tenacity and likability that helped him catch the eye of Kendall Cullum and led to a happy 32-year marriage.

Timmy had a zest for life that manifested in his love for skiing, surfing, fishing, and playing golf. Whether driving up I-89 in a blizzard, surfing in a Nor’easter, or fishing 70 miles off the coast, he embraced adventure with enthusiasm. Tim was a force of nature, a hurricane with a quiet center. The center of this energetic storm was a happy Irishman, always greeting you with a crooked grin, an extended hand, and an open heart.

There’s a great line in a Grateful Dead song that says, “Once in a while, you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.” Timmy always saw the silver lining, the positive side of things, and the good in everything, living every day like his last. He got up every day with purpose and objective.

Timmy is survived by his wife, Kendall, two sons, a daughter, and family including brother John Gallagher ’95 and sister-in-law Rebecca Russell Gallagher ’95.