Pat was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Patrick Henry Heavey and Mary Audrey Quayle (nee: LaVar), who preceded him in death. He was the proud and loving father of Patrick Brian Heavey (Heather); devoted grandfather of Andrea and Nathaniel Heavey; dear brother of Mary Blumenfeld (Gordon), Debbie Fanning (Bob), Nancy Miller, the late Mike Heavey and the late James ("Danny") Heavey; beloved uncle of Ryan, Katie, Mary Beth, Matt, Pat, Chris, Meagan, and Mike, and was the long-time companion of Jane Snyder.
Pat proudly served his country as a U.S. Army Ranger during the Vietnam War. After returning home and starting a family, he personally lobbied the Governor of Illinois to establish the first Veteran's Service Center in the country, creating a template for hundreds of Veterans self-help programs to follow. Pursuing a career in business planning (with just a couple of detours along the way...), he again was drawn to serve his brothers-in-arms returning from another war, this one in Iraq. He went on to help draft what became PL. 106-50, "The Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999", which re-launched all Federal assistance to hundreds of thousands of Veteran Entrepreneurs in America. Later, in 2005, he realized his vision for developing Veteran entrepreneurship by founding the Veteran Business Resource Center in St. Louis Missouri.
Pat will be dearly missed by his family, associates, and many, many friends. We shall not see his like again.
A memorial will be held in his honor at Alexander-White-Mullen Funeral Home at 11 am on October 19, 2018, with interment at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery to follow.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Patrick’s name to Disabled American Veterans.
