Anthony "Tony" Joseph Cancel Jr.

Anthony (Tony) J. Cancel Jr. was born on August 31,1939 in New York City, to parents Lilia Perez Cancel & Angel Antonio Cancel - he is the oldest of three sons (Hilton and Les) and loved growing up in NYC. He would help women carry their groceries upstairs in their tenements - he got a nickel tip!. He used the money he earned to rent a bicycle to explore Central Park. He loved the American Museum of Natural History which he visited often - HIS museum we called it. The most outrageous tale was when he went to Coney Island by himself around age 10, bypassing the turnstile and slipping onto the subway at the last minute. When asked what he did there, it wasn’t the rides, it was to get a sausage sandwich from Nathan’s. He didn’t tell his Mom about it until he was an adult!

At age 17, he created two sculptures of ‘The Thinker’ by Rodan (which resides in our living room), AND joined the Air Force where was sent to the North African desert to nightly patrol a radar site. He finished his six-year enlistment as a Radar Operator in Northern California.

As a civilian, he wore many hats over the next 30 years working for the California Youth Authority. He started as a Firefighter and eventually retired as Captain of a youth facility.

He and Roxanne Abrams-Cancel were together for almost 42 years until his passing. He had four children - Raelynn, Adam, Christopher, and Carrie Mass.

Tony and Roxanne moved to Maui and spent 7-1/2 wonderful years there. The Mayor called him 'Mr. Kihei’ because of the numerous volunteering projects he worked for the betterment of the island. He also received the 1998 JC Penney Golden Rule Award for exceptional volunteer service.

After moving to Cary in 2001, he continued volunteering for many organizations. He received special recognition for his 13 years of volunteerism with the Wake County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council.

Tony leaves behind his wife, children, brothers, grandson sisters-in-law, sons-in-law, and many nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews. There are also loving family neighbors whom we call “ours” and they called him Mr. Tone, or Mr. Tony, alongside many other loving friends.

A lasting memory of Tony was his gentleness, his love for his family and the love of children. Little kids gravitated to him and usually ended up in his lap. Oh, and his gorgeous hair!

A celebration of life for Tony will be held Thursday, July 21, 2022 at 4:00 PM at Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 200 Southeast Maynard Road, Cary, NC 27511, followed by a reception at 5:00 PM.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.BrownWynneCary.com for the Cancel family.