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MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. C. Roderick "Rory" O'Neil, a former banker and investment manager, died Saturday, July 28, at Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut. A resident of Mount Kisco, he was 81. He died of complications related to ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).
O'Neil was a co-founder of Riverfront Recapture in Hartford, Conn., a nonprofit dedicated to providing community access to the Connecticut River waterfront.
He was born Jan. 26, 1931, in Amityville, N.Y. O'Neil graduated from Princeton University in 1953 and received a master's in business administration from the University of Chicago in 1957. He was an avid tennis player and a licensed pilot.
He led the trust department at Manufacturers Hanover Bank before moving to Hartford to serve as chairman of the finance committee and board member of The Travelers Cos.
O'Neil left Travelers in 1984 to launch a private investment firm in partnership with future Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan at Greenspan ONeil Inc. In 1986, ONeil became chairman of O'Neil Associates, a financial consulting company.
Known as "Rory," O'Neil served on many corporate and nonprofit boards, including Beckman Coulter, AMBAC, Colt Manufacturing, Fort Dearborn Income Securities, Brinson Trust Co., Memorial Drive Trust and the California Institute of the Arts.
He was a chartered financial analyst and a trustee and past president of the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts. O'Neil chaired the state of Connecticut Investment Advisory Committee from 1988 to 1991 and served on the investment committee of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving for more than two decades.
O'Neil was a director of the Corporation for Independent Living in Hartford and director of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation from 1982 to 1993.
His family said that his proudest achievement, though, was the role he played in the restoration of the Connecticut River waterfront in Hartford with Riverfront Recapture.
O'Neil maintained his family home in Mount Kisco with his wife, Nancy. During the restoration of a number of historic properties in Hartford, O'Neil purchased a home in Simsbury, Conn., which he owned until 1997.
He is survived by his wife, Nancy Galante; six children, Brian, Sarah, Tim, Kevin, John and Anne; two brothers, Terry and Tom; and 13 grandchildren.
Visitation is from 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Beecher Funeral Home in Pleasantville. A memorial service will be held at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at Bedford Historical Hall.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Riverfront Recapture in Hartford, or The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig MDA/ALS Multidisciplinary Care Center at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.
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