Necrology

Paul Joseph O’Rourke '41

Jul. 2, 1920-Aug. 25, 2007

Paul Joseph O’Rourke ’41, a longtime textiles industry executive, grew up in Lyndhurst, NJ, where he was born on July 2, 1920. The eldest of five sons of Hugh D., an accountant and jewelry company president, and Pauline Woods O’Rourke, he enrolled at Hamilton in 1937 from Lyndhurst High School. He joined Delta Kappa Epsilon and became active in the Newman Club and the Musical Art Society. Inspired by Professor of Music Berrian Shute, he developed a great fondness for classical music and especially opera while on the Hill, and it provided him with cultural enrichment for the rest of his life.

Following his graduation in 1941, Paul O’Rourke found employment as a fabrics buyer with Mercantile Stores Co. in New York City. It was the beginning of a highly successful 40-year career in the textiles industry, interrupted only by military service during World War II. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942, was commissioned as an officer, and served aboard a landing craft that participated in the Sicily and Gulf of Salerno campaigns as well as the D-Day landings in Normandy.

Discharged as a lieutenant after the war’s end in 1945, Paul O’Rourke gave thought to graduate study in literature, but the needs of his growing family prompted him to return instead to his job at Mercantile Stores. In 1966, he moved on to Ben Rose Fabrics and became the company’s vice president. When it merged with Stafford Fabrics in 1969, he stayed on as executive vice president until 1980. He concluded his career as manager of home sewing sales for New Wave Fabrics (1980-82) and Asco Textiles (1982-85), both also in New York City.

Paul O’Rourke, long a resident of Red Bank, NJ, who loved to sail his sloop, Vagabond, on nearby Navesink River, also enjoyed extensive travel as well as reading, and his passionate devotion to opera remained unabated. He religiously attended performances at the Metropolitan Opera and also collected historical operatic recordings. In sports, he enthusiastically followed the fortunes of the New York Giants in football and the Rangers in hockey, but turned his back on baseball after the Dodgers moved to the West Coast.

Paul J. O’Rourke, an ever faithful alumnus, died on August 25, 2007, with his wife of 65 years, the former Marjorie J. McSorely, in devoted attendance. They had been married on October 22, 1942, in Rutherford, NJ. He is also survived by four daughters, Marjorie Boyle, Kathleen Long, Anne Wolfe, and Teresa O’Rourke ’83; two sons, Paul F. ’68 and Stephen G. O’Rourke; and 10 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and a brother. He was predeceased by his brother John P. O’Rourke ’50 in 1987.

 

Necrology Home