Project 2996: Never Forget Christopher Michael Grady

"The highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion."  Richard P. Feynman

Nobel laureate Richard P. Feynman  once said, "the highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion."  Christopher M. Grady exemplified this definition of enlightenment, filling the lives of those he touched with infectious laughter and  the tender-hearted compassion of an Irishman .

Chris Grady grew up in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn where he attained recognition as a talented athlete.  A  star pitcher for the prestigious Poly Prep Upper School before his graduation in 1990, Chris went on to play ball in his college days at Le Moyne College near Syracuse.  He spent idyllic summers filled with baseball and days on the beach in the tight-knit Irish community of Breezy Point, NY.  He continued to play competitively on the "Brennan and Carr" team in the Breezy Point/Rockaway Point Mens Softball League until just a few years before his death.  Though he was a devoted Mets fan, I am sure the dreams of a talented young boy were contented when he pitched for a Yankee's batting practice.  He later showed the same zealous devotion to his golf game including sitting vigilance for a desirous tee-off time.

Greater than his love and dedication for sports, however, was the love he held for his wife Kelly and their two children Dylan and Kayla.  Finding success in his career as a broker with Cantor Fitzgerald, Chris and Kelly moved to Cranford, NJ to raise their family.  He loved spending time with his children and his wife and was known dote on his dog Motai.  His sense of  commitment to family was, no doubt, born from his strong family bonds as the oldest of four children.  His siblings Brendan, Patrick and Deidre and mother Rita have rallied to support Chris' young family and participated  in an annual  memorial golf outing to raise funds for  a scholarship and charity in Chris' honor.  A website is maintained in his honor by his cousin Paul Clare who describes Chris as "one of those bright lights."

The remains of Chris Grady were never found, a thought that troubles his wife Kelly.  Kelly and her children continued to listen to Chris' voice on their answering machine for comfort.  She described some comfort knowing they had completed a self-enhancement course that required writing your own eulogy. Looking back at them a year after his death, Kelly said: "Everything he wanted, he already had."  These are gifts of comfort left behind by a truly "enlightened" knowing man.  With comforting words or a raucous laugh that shakes the skies and reverberates here on earth; the tender-hearted Irishman dries a tear and spreads a smile from his rightful place in Paradise.