Thomas Joseph Fahey Sr

12/15/2003

Thomas Joseph Fahey Sr., 87, of Melbourne Place, Pittsfield, formerly of Dalton, died Monday evening at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield. He had been the president of Byron Weston Co. for more than 20 years and was a longtime community activist. He served as chairman of the former Dalton School Committee, was a 10-year member of the town Finance Committee and was the drive chairman, president and treasurer of the Dalton Community Chest. As a member of the Dalton Housing Authority, he was instrumental in acquiring Pomeroy Manor. He also had served on the Prudential Committee of the Dalton Fire District and on the board of the Community Recreation Association. Born in Dalton on June 24, 1916, son of Patrick and Grace Mather Fahey, he was a 1934 graduate of the former Dalton High School, where he was captain of the football, basketball and baseball teams, and earned a degree in accounting from the former Berkshire Business School. Mr. Fahey joined Byron Weston, a wholly owned subsidiary of Crane & Co. Inc. since 1956, as an accountant in 1936, rising through the ranks as controller, general manager and assistant treasurer, then president and treasurer in 1961. He served as president for 21 years, the longest anyone had served in that position since the company's founding in 1863 and only the second who was not a member of the Weston family. He also served as its director of finance and oversaw the company's $2 million modernization program in the early 1960s. A longtime member of the Berkshire Medical Center board of directors, Mr. Fahey served as its treasurer and also treasurer of its Second Century Drive, and chairman of its finance and investment committees. He also had been chairman of the American Paper Institute-Cotton Fiber Papers Division in New York City. His other professional affiliations included serving as a member of the Massachusetts Savings Bank Life Insurance Council, trustee of the Massachusetts General Insurance Guaranty Fund, member of the Investment Committee of the Home for Aged Women and director of Berkshire Life Insurance Growth Fund. Mr. Fahey was a communicant of St. Agnes' Church. He was a director of the Pittsfield Community Music School, a member of the Wahconah Country Club and the Country Club of Pittsfield and the Pittsfield Catholic Schools Committee. His wife, the former Phyllis M. Wendling, whom he married April 15, 1939, died Sept. 24, 1998. He leaves two sons, Thomas J. Fahey Jr. of Port St. Lucie, Fla., and Peter Fahey of Davie, Fla.; a brother, James Fahey of Pittsfield, and 11 grandchildren. FUNERAL NOTICE -- Services for Thomas Joseph Fahey Sr., who died Monday, Dec. 15, 2003, will be private and at the convenience of the family. There will be no calling hours. Memorial contributions may be made to HospiceCare in the Berkshires or to the Dalton Ambulance Fund, both in care of DERY-FOLEY FUNERAL HOME, 890 East Main St., Dalton.

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