Boat Named After Him by Friends Academy
Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto and Town Councilman Anthony Macagnone attended the Long Island Jr. Rowing Championship, hosted by the Sagamore Rowing Association at Centre Island Beach. At the event, a boat was dedicated in honor of Tom Reardon, the late ex-chief of Oyster Bay Fire Company #1 during the Avianca plane crash and Oyster Bay Rotarian, who was also a prolific rower. His insurance business, Reardon, Rapley, Mehlman and Lindner, was located in Oyster Bay. He was a longtime member in the Oyster Bay Chamber of Commerce and known for his work with the Oyster Festival since its inception.
Members of Mr. Reardon’s family assisted in the dedication of the boat in his honor.
James Werner, Rotary president, attended the dedication of the boat to the late Tom Reardon at the May 2 championship regatta hosted by the Sagamore Rowing Association: 33 schools, over 1,000 kids, participated.
He said, “Tom joined the rowing club in 2006. I was an active member at the time. He brought me into Rotary and I brought him into rowing. He was active in the club and helped out both on and off the water with administrative work.
“He rowed four days a week, on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. The SRA is the sponsoring group for three high school teams, two college teams and a community program for adults called Sagamore Rowing.
“There is an Oyster Bay Rowing team made up of high school students from Oyster Bay, Locust Valley, Bayville and Syosset where there are no clubs; Our Lady of Mercy; and Friends Academy. C.W. Post and Hosftra University are the college teams.”
Mr. Werner said, “The boathouse is a shared facility and everyone gets to know each other. The Friends group thought enough of him to name a boat after him. The highest honor the sport can offer someone is to dedicate a boat in his memory.”
Mr. Werner said Friends Academy coach Jason Moskowitz came up with the idea to dedicate the boat, and thought an appropriate time was at the race.
Coach Moskowitz said, “All the kids knew who he was. He rowed at the same time our team did; and his wife is a librarian at Friends Academy. So when he passed, immediately I saw this as a great time for naming the boat.
“The kids on the team all asked me about it individually. They appreciated what Tom was doing and so I was really pleased about it and we were pleased to do it.” Coach Moskowitz said they had received an anonymous donation of boats, several years ago and this one we hadn’t opened. “We hadn’t picked a name. It was sitting on the rack, wrapped up waiting for the season,” he said.
