James Patrick Cooney

Nevertheless, he went on to build a legal career in Texas spanning more than five decades in admiralty and maritime law. He is survived by his wife Pamela Joy Pagano Cooney, his children, Elena Valentine Cooney Denis, Kathlyn Mary Cooney, Erin Joy Cooney, and James Brennan Cooney, as well as his grandchildren, Emilie Rose Denis, Luc Richard Denis, Julian Patrick Crawford, Olivia Kathlyn Cooney, Jamie Aaron Cooney, and his brother Timothy J. Cooney. His children-in-law are David Jean-Michel Denis, Remy Omar Hiramoto, Dominic Richard Thomas, and Kelli Beth Cooney. His step-grandchildren are Kimberly Malia Hiramoto, Branden Keijiro Hiramoto, and Devereux Maxwell Thomas. He also had a Grand Banks East Bay cruiser that he loved like a family member.

He was known to everyone as Pat, a good Irish Catholic name. Pat attended the University of Notre Dame, earning his Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in 1966, before continuing on to Notre Dame Law School, where he received his Juris Doctor in 1969. Since he set foot on the campus, the University of Notre Dame, and its football team, found a fond and beloved place in his heart. Indeed, Pat’s remains will be buried at Notre Dame Cedar Grove Cemeteries, and he has urged all his family and friends to visit him on campus during football game weekends because Go Irish! He never failed to cry at the band’s playing of “Notre Dame Our Mother.”

Pat was a family guy through and through, eagerly eating good Italian food, always bragging about his children’s achievements, visiting his son-in-law’s French restaurants, and flying to New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and London to see his kids. He had a deep sense of curiosity about the wider world. This wasn’t an insular man, and he shared those philosophies with his children, and it had a deep impact on them. The house was always filled with music, often at the highest decibel levels possible, and always in surround sound. He loved books and music, and it was through these that he developed a unique connection to each of his children based on mutual tastes—whether medieval mysticism, philosophy, history, Willie Nelson, or Pavarotti. His grandkids called him Poppy, and he enjoyed boating with them. He was an enthusiastic practitioner of safety drills, sometimes throwing life-jacketed children off the sailboat to practice a rescue. He was a funny guy without too many dad jokes.

Pat was a person of compassion, and above all, integrity. He was a source of wise counsel to so many, and he was able to mentor many lawyers and members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary through the years. He was unflappable in a crisis; some might even say he enjoyed solving the most intractable of problems. Always keen for a challenge, Pat was a man of service, generously giving of his time, intellect, and considerable skills.

Upon graduating Notre Dame law school, Pat clerked for the Hon. Lewis Morgan, Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, from 1969 to 1971, an experience that laid the foundation for the appellate practice that would come to define much of his later career.

Pat went on to serve as a partner at Royston, Rayzor, Vickery & Williams, L.L.P. in Houston, Texas, where he practiced for more than forty years, devoting himself almost entirely to admiralty and maritime law. Over the course of his career, he handled some of the region's most significant maritime matters, among them the ALVENUS oil spill in 1984, the Apex Barge/SHINOUSSA collision in Galveston Bay in 1989, and the MAERSK SHETLAND collision in Corpus Christi in 1995. He built an active trial and appellate practice where he regularly appeared in courts throughout the country including the Fifth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.

Pat was also a steady presence in maritime arbitration, serving as the Houston representative for the Maritime Arbitration Association of the United States and as a member of the Houston Maritime Arbitration Association.

Pat’s leadership within the profession was extensive. He served as Chairman of the Uniformity of Maritime Law Committee of the Maritime Law Association of the United States from 1998 to 2002 and later as a Director of the MLA, in addition to serving as a Proctor Member. He chaired the Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute in 1993, and remained active in the State Bar of Texas and the American Bar Association throughout his career.

Beyond the courtroom, Pat gave his time generously to the maritime community that shaped his career. He served on the Board of Directors of the Houston International Seafarers Center and the Houston Maritime Museum, and was an active member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, serving as Division Commander of Division 081-06 and most recently as Staff Legal Officer for District 8 Coastal Region.

Pat never got to join the Navy, but he was a captain through and through. He joined the US Coast Guard Auxiliary shortly after Hurricane Ike with a desire to serve his nation, state and city. He became a Coxswain, carrying out marine patrols in support of Coast Guard operations. He served as Flotilla Commander and as Division Commander of the largest Division along the Gulf Coast. While serving as Division Commander, he led the Auxiliary support for Sector Houston-Galveston before, during, and after Hurricane Harvey, service for which he received the US Coast Guard Auxiliary Commendation Medal. Pat’s leadership will be sorely missed.

If you want to hear Pat’s voice, he has an interview archived at the Library of Congress's Occupational Folklife Project, Working the Port of Houston. You can find that here: https://www.loc.gov/item/2016655467/

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from five o’clock in the afternoon until eight o’clock in the evening on Friday, the 24th of July, in the grand foyer and Jasek Chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston, where the recitation of the Holy Rosary is to commence at half-past seven o’clock.

A Mass of Christian Burial is to be offered at twelve o’clock noon on Saturday, the 25th of July, at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, 1801 Sage Road in Houston. Immediately following, all are invited to join the family during a reception in the grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons.

For those unable to attend, virtual attendance may be accessed by selecting the “Join Livestream” icon in the service section below. While there you may share fond memories and words of comfort and condolence with his family.

The family will gather for a private inurnment at Pat’s beloved University of Notre Dame at a later date.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests memorial contributions be directed to the Seafarer’s Center, a home away from home for seafarers visiting the Port of Houston by visiting the link below under "Donations".

May all of us find our way home.