Thomas Frank Canty

Thomas “Tom” Canty of Suffern, NY, passed away on October 12, 2026, at the age of 87. He was surrounded by family and loved ones. Born May 12, 1939, to Bridget and John Canty in Hillburn, NY, Tom was a dedicated and beloved father, grandfather, coach, and educator who changed countless lives. Tom was predeceased by his parents and his three younger brothers, Alan (AJ), John (Jack), and Michael.

Tom is survived by his daughter Erika, her husband Brian, and their sons Nicholas, Tyler, and Nolan; his daughter Michele, her children Thomas and Isabella, and Thomas’s son, Mateo, Tom’s great-grandson. Throughout his life, Tom was a father figure to many.

Tom attended Suffern Senior High School, where he first learned to wrestle, winning county and section titles before graduating in 1957. He enrolled at Alabama Polytechnic Institute (Auburn University), before transferring to Penn State University, where he wrestled. He was a rifleman in the U.S. Marines from 1959 to 1965.

Soon after graduating in 1961, he began his head coaching career at Pearl River High School. From 1962 to 1967, his teams produced 13 sectional champions, five state-tournament place winners, and one of his wrestlers went on to win the 1968 state title. He also led Pearl River to two county titles and ended Suffern’s 87-match win streak. He won Rockland County Coach of the Year in 1966 and 1967.

During the 1967-68 school year, Tom earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Colorado and was an assistant coach for the Buffaloes’ wrestling team. He then returned to Rockland County to teach and started the Ramapo High School wrestling program. By 1971, Ramapo produced its first New York state champion. In 1972, Tom served as President of the New York State Wrestling Coaches Association after serving as its Vice President — two of the many roles he took to advance the sport of wrestling in the state. Ramapo produced four sectional champions, two state champions, and a state runner-up that year. In 1974, he coached the New York State Freestyle and Greco-Roman team at the Iowa National Tournament, and in 1975, another Ramapo wrestler won a state title. By 1980, Tom had coached 40 county, 28 section, and four individual state champions, one of whom won twice. That year, he retired from coaching to raise his daughters, Erika and Michele, on his own. He kept teaching.

In 1994, Tom returned to coaching as head coach of a new team, East Ramapo, formed by combining Spring Valley and Ramapo to keep the Ramapo program from being cut. He was named Rockland County and Section 1 Coach of the Year in 1997. East Ramapo produced its first sectional champ in 1999, seven more followed.

Tom was inducted into the Rockland County Sports Hall of Fame in 1988, the New York State Wrestling Coaching Hall of Fame in 1992, the Suffern High School Hall of Fame in 1998, the Pearl River High School Hall of Fame in 2000, the Ramapo High School Hall of Fame in 2003, and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2004, receiving the Lifetime Service to Wrestling Award.

Statistics and honors aside, what mattered most to Tom was how he lived. Integrity was the defining principle of his life. He treated everyone with respect and dignity and instilled those traits in his students and wrestlers. Above all else, Tom cared about his family and friends, and he thought constantly about how to make their lives better, how to empower them, and how to bring them together. He talked about it, and more importantly, he did it.

From 2000 until 2020, Tom was Supervisor of Student Teachers at Ramapo College of New Jersey. After retiring, he continued to follow collegiate and international wrestling, painted landscapes, and spent time with his family. He will be deeply missed.

Memorial Visitation will be held at Wanamaker & Carlough Funeral Home, 177 Route 59, Suffern, NY 10901, on Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM with a Memorial Service at 12:23 PM.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Tom’s memory to Beat the Streets NYC, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that uses wrestling to help New York City children and teens build discipline, confidence, and resilience on and off the mat. Donations can be made at btsny.org/donate.