Jeremiah K. Reilly, 88, beloved husband, father and grandfather passed away peacefully at home on January 15, 2017.
Born in Hamden, CT in January 1929 to Alice Sullivan Reilly and David M. Reilly, Sr., prominent Connecticut attorney, Jerry attended Hopkins Grammar, LaSalle Military Academy and graduated from The Loomis School. A member of the class of 1951 at Kenyon College, he left in 1949 to pursue a career in show business in New York City. His tap dancing talent earned him a part in the revival of “Where’s Charley” with Ray Bolger. After successful previews in Boston at the Shubert Theater, he was drafted into the US Army for the Korean War effort and, sadly, missed the Broadway run of the show.
Jerry married Ann Crotty in 1951, settled in Hamden and began night school in business at Yale. Without a degree, he took the Industrial Engineer test, passed, and thus began his career at Safety Car Heating & Lighting, H.B. Ives, and at Neucor, the birth of nuclear power, under (Admiral) then Captain Hyman Rickover. Later, in New York City, he was a management consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, VP of Acquisitions for Beech Nut Squibb, President of Table Talk Pies in Worcester, MA and back to New York City as President of Ward Baking Co. These jobs took the family to Ridgefield, CT and Sudbury, MA before settling in Princeton NJ in 1973. There, he turned to entrepreneurship and opened Halo Farm, Inc., in Lawrence, NJ in 1975, a microdairy specializing in beverages and ice cream. He then opened Halo Pubs and Halo Fete.
Jerry possessed a keen intelligence, a vibrant wit, and a kind generous soul. An avid tennis player, he once ranked number one in the Men’s 45 and over USTA Middle States.
Jerry was predeceased by his sisters, Alicia Reilly Walker and Grace Reilly Schuermann and his brother David M. Reilly, Jr. He is survived by his four children, Kathleen Reilly Arnold, Brian Reilly, Mary Clare Mooney and Eileen Reilly; grandchildren Lucy Arnold Gore, Megan and Logan Reilly, and Shannon and Schuyler Mooney; great grandson Ryder Jalbert; sons-in-law Anson Mooney and Nick Gore.
A memorial service will be held at St. Paul’s Church, Princeton, NJ on Saturday, January 28, 2017 at 11 am. Donations may be made to his favorite charity The Hole in the Wall Gang, a camp for children with cancer.
