Jeremiah Teehan

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Jeremiah Teehan, 76, of West Brighton, a former president of the Blind Society of Staten Island who fought for the rights of the blind and visually impaired, died Sunday in Richmond University Medical Center, West Brighton.

Born in Brooklyn, he graduated from Fort Hamilton High School. He moved to West Brighton in 1961.

Mr. Teehan served in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany.

In 1974, he was mugged in Manhattan and lost his sight due to his injuries. After two years of rehabilitation, he went back to his job as an investigator with the Workers’ Compensation Board and traveled all over the city with his cane. He also went back to school and completed an associate’s degree, then a bachelor’s degree, and finally a master’s degree in school and community counseling.

He was the affirmative action officer at the state Institute for Basic Research in Willowbrook, traveling all over the state, until retiring in 1997.

Although his blindness was an inconvenience, he never allowed his disability to get the better of him, his family said. If anything, he sought out any opportunity to live a normal life with help and support from his family.

Mr. Teehan spent many years fighting for the rights of people who were either blind or visually impaired. He served as president of the Staten Island Blind Society for many years and he was a member of the Blinded Veterans Association.

Later in his life, he underwent a successful, experimental procedure that partially restored his vision.

His wife of 44 years, the former Dorothy Perrone, died in 2005.

Surviving are his son, Daniel; his daughters, Debra Dolce and Donna Williams; two sisters, Helen Strachan and Diane Andrade, and seven grandchildren.

The funeral will be Friday from the Casey Funeral Home, Castleton Corners, with a mass at 10 a.m. in St. Roch’s R.C. Church, Port Richmond. Burial will follow in St. Peter’s Cemetery, West Brighton.