Obituary of John Patrick Foynes

John Patrick Foynes, 78, of Armonk, New York, longtime resident of Katonah, New York, passed away on August 29th.  Born in Manhattan to Daniel H. Foynes and Catherine Foynes (née Hennessy) on March 6, 1945, he is a 1962 graduate of La Salle Academy and a 1966 graduate of St. John’s University.  A career Wall Street man, he retired in 2001 from the New York Stock Exchange as Vice President, Fixed Income Markets and Recovery Planning.  John dutifully commuted on Metro-North and the subway from Katonah to the financial district for thirty-four years.  Although the commute was long, John proclaimed it to be “my time” in that he could work, read or simply relax undisturbed in the age before cell phones.  On Friday evenings after a long week, he may have enjoyed a beer in the trains’ now long-gone bar cars.

In 1968, John married Elaine Sekelsky (1945-2016) in her hometown of Poughkeepsie, New York, and the young couple moved from Manhattan to Katonah in 1973 to raise their family.  A former altar boy, John has been a devoted Catholic and a near fifty-year parishioner at the Church of St. Mary of the Assumption in Katonah, where he could be found with his beloved Elaine every week at the 11:30 Sunday Mass.  John also has been a lifetime member of the G.W. Hudson Council of the Knights of Columbus in Woodside (Queens), New York, where he enjoyed great comradery in performing valuable public service in the community.

John was an accomplished baseball player in his younger years, having competed in high-level leagues throughout Queens.  As a fan, the Yankees were a fixture on the family room television each spring and summer evening.  John also was active in CYO basketball, as a player and later coach.  His most successful player was none other than Lew Alcindor (“Lewie” to John), later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, at the renowned Power Memorial Academy where John was a volunteer assistant coach.

The son of Irish immigrants from Counties Mayo and Laois, John was most proud of his heritage, having maintained dual citizenship and offering the occasional rendition of “Danny Boy.”  St. Patrick’s Day was eagerly awaited every year, with particular eye on the forecast for the Fifth Avenue parade, followed by the mandatory visit to Donohue’s on Lexington Avenue, where he greatly enjoyed catching up with childhood as well as professional friends and their families.

A shrewd investor, CNBC was John’s daytime backdrop.  In 1967, he co-founded Growth Associates, an investment club for family and friends, which produced steady returns that regularly beat the market.  John painstakingly selected and distributed research assignments for each biannual meeting, for which the attendees had better come prepared.

John enjoyed regular summer vacations with family and friends in Hampton Bays, New York (being a city kid, Elaine drove while John read the Times and the Journal), particularly Ponquogue Beach and including the famous John Duck’s Restaurant in Southampton, along with winter cruises to the Caribbean and even Hawaii.  The routine end-of-summer trip was to Maine, where John was a bit of an antiquarian in his day and with the repeated car stops eliciting regular objection from the kids.

John is survived by his sister, Susann Pramschufer (Woodcliff Lake, NJ), his children, MaryKathleen Gaza (Katonah, NY), John J. Foynes (Stow, MA) and Patricia Arnold (Walden, NY), and five dear grandchildren, Thomas, Claire, Elizabeth, Oliver and Stanley, who will greatly miss their “Pa.”  In addition to Elaine, John is preceded in death by his brother, Daniel M. Foynes (Bayville, NY).

The family will receive visitors from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm on Tuesday, September 5th, at Clark Associates Funeral Home, 4 Woods Bridge Road, Katonah.  The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 am on Wednesday, September 6th, at St. Mary of the Assumption Church, 55 Valley Road, Katonah.  Interment will follow at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 10 West Stevens Avenue, Hawthorne, NY.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in John’s name to La Salle Academy, 215 East 6th Street, New York, NY 10003 (212) 475-8940, Knights of Columbus Hudson Council #3701, 49-18 Queens Boulevard, Woodside, NY 11377 (718) 446-3701 (kofc3701.org/hudson-supporters) or PKD Foundation, P.O. Box 871847, Kansas City, MO 64187 (816) 931-2600 (pkdcure.org/give/).