Thomas M Sweeney

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Thomas Matthew Sweeney, 36, of Eltingville, a construction supervisor and loving father, died Sunday in Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, of a brain aneurysm.

Mr. Sweeney had signed an organ donor card; his uncle, who was in need of a kidney and on a waiting list, was one of the beneficiaries of his nephew's generosity, along with several other patients in need.

"He was the most caring and wonderful individual and he was such a good person that he donated his organs. Right now at least three people's lives have been saved because of this," said his sister, Carol Sweeney-Gorman. "My brother was a very loving person and he will be greatly missed especially by his many aunts, uncles, cousins and nephews."

Mr. Sweeney graduated from the Francis School, Eltingville.

He began working in construction early on, then switched gears to work as an electrical apprentice for Local 3. However, after trying the new field, he realized that his passion was in the field of construction, and he returned to work as a supervisor at A Class Construction, Huguenot.

Mr. Sweeney was the life of the party and always took time to enjoy life, his family said.

He liked to ski, but his true love was his son, Brandon, who was the joy of his heart.

Surviving, along with his sister, Carol, and his son, Brandon, are his parents, James J. and Catherine Loretta-Sweeney; his brothers, Denis and Michael; his sister, Nancy Langill, and his former wife, Rebecca Schwartz-Sweeney.

The funeral will be Friday from the Casey McCallum Rice South Shore Funeral Home, Great Kills, with a mass at 11 a.m. in Holy Child R.C. Church, Eltingville. Burial will follow in Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains.