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Donald Joseph Noonan, an attorney and politician in Westhampton Beach and Mineola since the 1960s, died at Stony Brook University Medical Center on Saturday, November 29. He was 73.
Born to Kathleen O’Connor and James Noonan, immigrants from Newcastle, in west Ireland, Mr. Noonan graduated from St. Francis College in Brooklyn and received his law degree from New York Law School. He was the vice-chairman of the Nassau Democratic Party and an official of the Board of Elections. Described by survivors as a natural politician in the best sense of the word, he was drafted by the late Jack English to work for the 1968 presidential campaign of Robert Kennedy.
A delegate for Edward Kennedy to the national presidential nominating convention in 1980, when the nomination was won by Jimmy Carter, Mr. Noonan went on to work for the Carter campaign.
Running for mayor of Westhampton Beach in 1978, Mr. Noonan finished a close second in a field of four, but said that each doorbell pressed allowed him to introduce to a household “an attorney who is highly competent and charming.”
That endeavor served him well and went a long way toward helping him establish his successful local law practice, until health problems necessitated his retirement in 2005. His office handled everything from land use applications to traffic court appearances to criminal defense work.
He also served as associate village justice in Westhampton Beach for several years in the mid-1990s.
He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Phyllis Mary (née Dattolico) Noonan; two sons and their wives, Donald Noonan Jr. of Wilton, Connecticut, and Sean Noonan of Westhampton Beach and New York City; a daughter, Tara Amaral and her husband of Madison, New Jersey; four sisters, Kathleen Noonan Roskell, Mary Noonan Fritz, Sheila Noonan Meindl and Eileen Noonan Downey; and eight grandchildren.
He was predeceased by two brothers, William and James Noonan.
A wake was held at the Follett and Werner Funeral Home in Westhampton Beach on December 2. A funeral service was held at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Quiogue on December 3; interment was private.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Church of the Immaculate Conception Community Outreach Program, 580 Main Street, Quiogue, NY 11978 would be appreciated by the family.
on Dec 1, 2008