Mark A. McCluskey, financial executive

Mark A. McCluskey, 49, a financial services executive who coached youth basketball and managed soccer in Ridgefield, died of a heart attack on Wednesday, May 4, at Christ Hospital, Jersey City, N.J. He was the  husband of Sharon McCluskey for the last 18 years, and leaves a son, Mac, a freshman at Ridgefield High School, and daughter, Kate, a sixth grader at Scotts Ridge Middle School. 

“He’s been a basketball coach for both my kids since they’ve been old enough play basketball in town,” his wife said. “Third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, he’s either coached or been assistant coach. “He managed my daughter’s travel soccer team last season when the manger stepped down — he stepped up and did the managing.” “He loved working with the kids, absolutely,” she said. He especially had fun coaching the younger girls teams his daughter was on, his wife said. “They really loved him. He always made basketball practice fun. When they’re that age, they don’t want to do the drills, but he always made it fun.”

Mr. McCluskey was born in Rockville Center, N.Y., Jan.17, 1956, son of Mary (Donovan) McCluskey of Pelham Manor, N.Y., and the late Robert A. McCluskey Sr.

He grew up a Pelham Manor resident, attended Pelham schools and Pelham Memorial High School and graduated from Southampton (N.Y.) College with a bachelor of science in business administration. It was there he met his wife, then Sharon Roy.

After graduation, he entered the banking and financial investment business. A former president of E.F.G. Capital of Miami, Fla., Mr. McCluskey was vice president of Lorac Financial Services of Summit, N.J., at the time of his death.

The McCluskeys came to the area in 1990, moving from New York City to South Salem, N.Y. They moved to Ridgefield in 1996. From about 1995 to 2001 Mr. McCluskey was a long distance commuter, with a job in Florida and a family in Ridgefield.

“He was very lonely there. It’s hard to be away from your family,” his wife said. “...He had it worked out pretty good toward the end. He’d leave early Monday morning and he’d be back Thursday evening, so we pretty much had him all of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So, he didn’t miss many of those soccer games.”

Mr. McCluskey also enjoyed horse racing, going each year to races at Saratoga, and was a cigar aficionado. He had fun with computers and helped both middle schools in town set up Web sites. “He was always Mr. Technical with his computer. He was always the first person to get DSL and all these gadgets,” his wife said.

“He was on a first-name basis with just about every member of the support group at Dell Computer because he was always on the phone with them for one thing or another.”

In addition to his wife, son, daughter and mother, Mr. McCluskey is survived by a brother, Robert A. McCluskey Jr. of Springfield, Va.; two sisters, Lynn A. McCluskey of Rye, N.Y., and Martha A. Winchester of Tucson, Ariz.; and his mother-in-law, Virginia R. Roy of Taunton, Mass. His father and one sister, Stella F. Hill, died before he did.

Funeral services took place on Monday evening in the Kane Funeral Home, 25 Catoonah Street, with the Rev. Harold Quigley officiating. The family received friends then.

Burial will be private.

Contributions in his memory may be made to the Mac & Kate McCluskey Fund for Education, The Ridgefield Bank, 150 Danbury Road, Ridgefield 06877.

05/12/2005