It is with the deepest sadness that we announce that our beloved Donald McCloskey passed away peacefully at home on Sunday, November 6 after a long and courageous battle with cancer.
Donald McCloskey was born on April 25, 1959 in Queens, New York to James and Mildred McCloskey. Donald went to St. Sebastian’s grammar school, William Cullen Bryant High School and got his Bachelor’s degree from Pace University. His first job was delivering newspapers for the Long Island Press in 1972. He then made the career hop to being a Stock Clerk at Woolworth’s in 1975. He got a job in the mailroom at ABEX corporation when he turned 18 and his interest in something new called “computers” earned him a promotion to Data Manager/COBOL Programmer, where he worked for 9 years until 1976. He then took the leap to finance as a Product Manager at the Bank of New York Mellon (no Mellon at that time though). He took fine art classes at Valencia Community College in 2009 and retired in December of 2018 to pursue his passion for art full-time after attending the Crealdé School of Art in June of 2018. He attended several classes at Crealdé and also McRae Art Studios and developed into a fantastic artist.
On April 21, 2022, Donald married his partner of 30+ years Kam Hei Yeung in Orlando, to the joy of friends and family. They had built a life together, living in downtown New York on Water Street and living the New York City lifestyle and later moving down to Florida to work and dominate the housing market down there. They are known for their outrageous hospitality, their fantastic cooking, their willingness to open their doors to anyone who was in the area and needed a place to stay and their touching relationship with ‘Han Solo’ the Chinese Swan Goose that they have managed to rescue from captivity and have kept safe from several hurricanes.
Donald was best known for his big and colorful personality (great B-52 parties in his apartment in Woodside in his younger days), his artistic side (playing guitar, writing songs, painting), his extraordinary fashion sense (so many cool shirts…), his selfless attitude in helping others in need and for loving us all. Don made a lot of friends and was loved by many. He had a passion for live music and was quick to tell you how many times he saw Led Zeppelin, the Who, Yes (in all of their formations), Elton John and lots of other artists. He’s got a book of his concert tickets that is an amazing journey through great concerts since the 70’s. His favorite artist of late was decidedly Glen Philips (Toad the Wet Sprocket) and he got a lot of pleasure watching Glen’s live broadcasts on Facebook during the Covid period. Don was a Disney World enthusiast and visited the place more times that any human that does not work for Disney probably should and ended up writing columns for one of the Disney magazines. Donald visited all Disneys except the one in Shanghai. He collected vinyl albums, CDs, books and loved all things Disney. He also had a passion for travel and visited a ton of places around the globe, be it traveling to Europe or Asia with Kam, with his brothers and cousins to Mexico or just taking a cruise with mom.
Uncle Don absolutely adored all of his nieces and nephews and loved to see them growing up and being kids (and now having kids of their own!). He loved his mom and dad and took his mom in to take care of her when she no longer could live alone. He loved his brothers and their families and was always there when there was a celebration or a problem. He cared very much about his extended family, keeping in contact with many cousins and other relatives.
According to his facebook profile, his favorite quote is ‘He who laughs last, laughs best’. Let’s make sure we remember Don with fond memories, a good laugh and a smile. He would want it that way and he is surely up there somewhere, looking down on us and smiling.
We love you Don. We miss you. Rest in peace. The world is a much more boring place without you.
Visitation and services will be held at the Carey Hand Colonial Funeral Home, 2811 Curry Ford Road, Orlando, FL 32806 on Sunday, November 20, 2022. Visiting hours will be held from 12 noon to 2 p.m. with a service to follow at 2 p.m. A reception for friends and family will follow the service at the Yeung and McCloskey home.
The family would love and appreciate it if you could share a Donald memory or two here if you can!
Dress code: In celebration of Donald’s life and to honor his vibrant and loving personality and his passion for art, we ask those who will be attending the visiting hours and service (even you at home) to wear bright colors!