Wednesday, October 6, 2021
“Gene had originality-plus
Ambition super-plus,
He had a finger in every pie and still enough time to see all the good movies.
Philosophy, sociology, economics and politics all entranced him.
He could talk intelligently and enthusiastically on any subject
And was definitely an innovationalist whose middle name was personality”.
Now, if I told you that those were the words of a former classmate of Gene’s you probably wouldn’t doubt it. But those were the words of a classmate of our father, Eugene T. Lawless, describing our father in his college year book in his senior year at Holy Cross. That was in 1943 just before he graduated and joined the Marines to fight in one of the worst battles of WWII. After the war our father opted for a life and with my mother raised nine children. A back injury from the war limited him from teaching traditional skills to his children or boys for that matter, so we were left to each other and our own devices on how to ride bikes, hammer nails, saw wood or hit and throw a baseball. But our father did teach us to think, and to talk. Possibly worried that life could be filled with battles our father would hold court in our living room where we would debate topics with a range as wide as the colors of a rainbow. Where hurt feelings were just collateral damage and survival was paramount and where we honed our skills to defend our position. And this is where Gene learned how to make a point and to back it up which also made him both memorable and fun to talk to. But he didn’t stop there; he mastered other skills as well. He played the guitar, built furniture, built models and tackled all kinds of home improvement projects. And, he could cook. While still in high school he worked sixty hours a week running the kitchen at The International House of Pancakes in Glen Cove. From there he went to Cobleskill and R.I.T., gaining his Associate and Bachelor Degrees while working for the food service departments. From there he started working at Cornell were he ran food services at the student union and largest dining hall on campus, Willard Straight. After he mastered that he got head hunted by the University of Southern California where he headed up the food service program and the campus book store and food service planning for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Gene then moved on to be Vice President at Fessel International, a consulting company specifically dedicated to the restaurant industry where he traveled the country and the world helping companies and individuals for whom excellent Food Service was a critical element of their success. As John Trimble of Trimble’s Pub recently said about Gene when he was first starting out,” he knew he would shine in the hospitality business”. But there was more to Gene than just skills, there was his heart and his relationships with people.
I feel fortunate with the brothers and sisters I grew up with. My three older sisters helping our mother raise the next five boys and one girl and brother like Tom, at the same time handsome and tough, never afraid, even if it meant going to Viet Nam. With Tom I had someone I could always look up to, a big brother. But then there was the next older brother, Gene and that was different. Gene wasn’t someone you looked up to but instead he was someone who looked out for you. Because we were close in age I partnered up with Gene for the first fourteen years of my life. During that time there was probably no more familiar sound to me then the sound of Gene’s voice. We did everything together. That you had someone looking out for you was a given. And even if there were times when I didn’t want someone to look after me, it never deterred Gene. He just kept caring about me and ready to love me again when I came back around. But it wasn’t just me, it was brothers, sisters, friends, parents, neighbors, parents of friends, he got along with everyone. I don’t remember him ever being quiet or shy. He was always willing to pass on some bit of information, anything to help someone out.
And then there was the way he would talk to his children. Whether it was with, Erin, Sarah, Eoghan or Conor, I noticed he talked to them like he talked to me, not to tell them what to do but to show them that he cared about them. That’s when I really noticed what he was doing; I just got the feeling he was concerned about people.
I remember texting him on his birthday a few years back after the birth of his grandchild, August. I heard he was starting to have some health issues and wanted cheer him up. I remember telling him he was the luckiest person I knew, a loving wife, four children, a grandson, a successful career winding down with plenty of hobbies to keep him busy. Who’s luckier than you, I asked. But little did I know that the lucky one was me and those of us that knew him.
God Bless You Gene and Thank You for All You Did For Us.
Jim Lawless,
September 18, 2021
