Eleanor Gallagher

Eleanor M. Gallagher of Old Tappan, New Jersey passed peacefully and unexpectedly in her home on January 22, 2022. She was 88 years old. Born of Irish immigrants in New York City in 1933, Eleanor was the second child of Michael and Mary (nee Glynn) Kenny.

Eleanor’s passion for learning and education developed early and naturally. She excelled scholastically, taught her younger brother to read before he started school and tutored her cousins and friends in her Inwood, Manhattan neighborhood. Eleanor was awarded six full scholarships to attend college and graduated with honors from St. John’s University. She was the first in her family to earn a college degree. Following her graduation from St. John’s she taught history, mathematics and social studies in the New York City school system for four years.

Eleanor paused her teaching career to start a family and raise her children, Arthur II, Maryann, Michael and Paul in her new home of Bergenfield, NJ. While raising her children in the 1960’s and 1970’s she earned a masters degree in history from Hunter College and a masters in education from Farleigh Dickenson University. In 1964 she became the first woman elected to the Bergenfield Board of Education. She was reelected in 1967. She was Board Vice President in 1965 and President in 1968, the first woman to hold either position. During her six years on the Board, Bergenfield High School was expanded physically with a modern addition and the district’s 9th grade was moved into the High School. The Junior High School became Roy W. Brown Middle School.

In 1966, Eleanor was among the signatories of a clergy sponsored statement of belief circulated by the Fair Housing Committee of Bergenfield, Dumont and New Milford that said discrimination was “undemocratic and violates basic human rights and dignity” and backed equal opportunity in housing. The statement expressed a willingness to “accept as our neighbors persons on their merit, without regard to race, creed or national origin.

When her youngest child, Paul, entered school, Eleanor resumed her teaching career; first in the New Milford School District and then in Bergenfield where she became a Learning Disabilities Consultant for over 30 years before retiring at the age of 74.

In 1987, Eleanor was appointed to the Bergen County Special Services School District Board of Education. She served on that Board until 1995, including a term as President.

During her retirement, Eleanor volunteered to teach women confined at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility to read, tutored and consulted hundreds of children of friends and acquaintances who were struggling to learn.

Eleanor is survived by her children, Arthur II and his wife Lori; Maryann, her husband Jack Blackburn and their adult children Margaret, Allyson and John; Michael, his wife Ruth Shapiro and their daughters Shana and Zoe; Paul, his wife Lucinda Benn and their son Jamie. She is also survived by her brother Roger Kenny and his wife Carole as well and her many nieces, nephews and their children whom she loved deeply.

She is predeceased by her parents, Michael and Mary (nee Glynn) Kenny, her brother William, her nephew Glynn and her former husband, Arthur.

Eleanor’s family will be accepting visitors at Becker Funeral Home, 219 Kinderkamack Rd, Westwood, NJ 07675 on Friday, January 28 from 2PM until 6PM.

A funeral mass will occur at 11 am at St Pius X Roman Catholic Church, 268 Old Tappan Rd, Old Tappan, NJ, followed by a repast luncheon in the Church Café.

A celebration of Eleanor’s life is being planned for late April, 2022 at a place to be determined, after which her cremated remains will be interred privately at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, NY.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to St. Pius Roman Catholic Church, 268 Old Tappan Rd, Old Tappan, NJ 07675 or www.spxot.org .