After a life of love and quiet grace, Nicholas John "Nick" Cassidy of Victor, NY has passed.
Here is what we wish the world to know of Nicholas.
Nicholas spent his working life as ['those years was spent at New York Bell'] — and was, by all accounts, loved by those who knew him best.
It is in the silence afterward that we hear how loud a life was.
Nicholas J Cassidy, of Victor NY, died peacefully at home April 24, 2026. He was born August 16, 1920 in New York City (also at home, as he told us), and lived a long, full life of 105 years.
He worked in Manhattan for the Kaiser Company, a major shipbuilder of the time, moving to Providence RI in 1942 to the Walsh-Kaiser Shipyards after the US joined the conflict in World War II. He would tell the story of how he went out on sea trials of the famous Liberty Ships. He could have continued this important work, but decided to enlist in the US Army Air Corps in 1943 because he wanted to fight in the front lines for his country as a pilot. Fortunately for all his descendants, the war ended just before he was due to be sent to the Pacific, and he was mustered out in 1946.
The following year, he married Catherine (Kay) Turner, moving to Uniondale, NY after the birth of their first daughter, Charlotte, where they lived for the next 30 years raising Charlotte and her younger sister Elayne. Nick's career in those years was spent at New York Bell, first as telephone installer, then foreman, and finally responsible for the telephone system at New York's JFK airport. Kay also had a rewarding career as manager of the Hofstra University Playhouse. Nick loved problem solving, and would tell stories of repairing big teletype machines at the airport. Upon retirement, Nick and Kay moved to Stony Brook NY, and finally to Rochester NY to be near their children and grandchildren. Nick loved kids and dogs, who would compete with each other to sit on his lap. He and Kay loved to travel all over the US and Canada, and overseas to England, Scotland and Italy. Travel high points in his later years were an Honor Flight with veterans from WWII and the Korean War to Washington DC war memorials, and a visit at age 104 to the homes on Long Island where he spent his early life and raised his family, as well as Roosevelt Field, where he bicycled weekly as a teenager to watch the early days of aviation unfold. Nick was also a consummate craftsman and woodworker, building furniture, a working grandfather's clock and harp, and many airplane models from the WWII era. He loved music all his life, playing the trombone in orchestras and bands throughout high school and his military training, and holding season tickets to the Metropolitan Opera.
Nick is predeceased by his parents Louis Cioffi and Anita Corsi, his adoptive father Eugene Cassidy, wife Catherine (Turner), brother Joseph Cioffi, and daughter Elayne (Robert) Nicholas. He is survived by his daughter Charlotte Ryan, brother Gene (Hollis) Cassidy, sister Mary Ellen Huff, daughter in law Eileen Amy Ryan, grandchildren Nicholas (Manisha Shah) Ryan, Thomas (Emily) Nicholas, Kristin (Ben) Elias, and Ben Nicholas, great-grandchildren Madeleine, Dylan, Hannah and Penelope, and many nieces and nephews. He is fondly remembered by his caregivers who gave him the comfort and blessing of staying in his own home throughout his last years, especially Jennifer Reiners, Emily Schultz, Tina Verbridge, Mary Clyde, and Linda Brunner, who were with him at the end, among many others who cared for him and Kay over the years.
His funeral mass will be held at 10 AM on May 5 at St Patrick's Church (Victor NY), and he will be laid to rest next to his beloved Kay at White Haven Memorial Park (Pittsford NY). All who wish to attend are welcome. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be directed to Honor Flight Rochester (honorflightrochester.org) or Lollypop Farm (lollypop.org).
Miller Funeral Services is honored to serve the family of Nicholas J Cassidy.
