1970s

Timothy James Downey '73

Timothy James Downey '73, a management consultant and strategic planner whose ambitions as a writer led to the publication of a praiseworthy novel, was born on October 15, 1951, in Mount Kisco, NY. The younger son of James J., a buyer, and Nancy Lane Rosebury Downey, a dental assistant and secretary, Tim Downey grew up in Pleasantville, north of New York City, and came to College Hill in 1969 from Pleasantville High School. A dedicated reader, especially of modern fiction, and an aspiring author who wrote his first adventure story while in third grade, he majored in English at Hamilton. A member of Sigma Phi, he also played intramural sports and sang for four years in the Choir. He was graduated with honors in English in 1973.

Thereafter, Tim Downey turned to music, becoming a rock musician. He was saxophonist for a rock and roll band called Calico Sam, and later played in various bands in the New York City area as well as upstate. Subsequently employed as a consultant and planner for such firms as Verizon, Goldman Sachs, and Deloitte & Touche, he was most recently with Datakey Consulting, a provider of strategic marketing services, based in Ossining, NY.

In 1987, Tim Downey's literary ambitions saw fruition with the publication by E.P. Dutton of A Splendid Executioner. A crime novel with strong elements of suspense as well as detection, it combined gritty realism with superb writing and deft plotting. Hailed in The New York Times as "a brisk, bright, often grimly amusing and a pleasure to read," it marked an auspicious literary debut. However, although Tim Downey also penned A Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology, A Splendid Executioner would remain his only published novel.

Long a resident of Garrison, on the Hudson, Tim Downey and his family became active members from its inception in 1998 of the Philipstown Worship Group of the Society of Friends. He taught school for and served as treasurer of the Worship Group. Within his community he also served as a trustee of the Garrison Children's Education Fund.

Ill with cancer, Timothy J. Downey died on December 14, 2008, while hospitalized in New York City with his family by his side. He is survived by his wife of 24 years, Linda Wright Downey, and two sons, James W. '10 and Kyle V. Downey. He also leaves a brother, Michael Downey, and a sister, Sheila Sullivan.