This should be a happy time for the family and friends of Brendan Ryan. They should be preparing to celebrate his wedding to Sheilah McGuckin in two weeks. Instead, they’ll bury him today, sick with grief over the death of a decent man who left them long before his time.
Ryan died tragically early Sunday morning. He was killed after leaving his bachelor party at a Bronx bar, struck down by what police say was a speeding car
Ryan’s future seemed particularly bright. In addition to his upcoming wedding, the 27-year-old Bronx native had recently been promoted in his job at Bell Atlantic. He was taking computer classes at Lehman College. At his wake on Monday, friends recalled a gentle man who, with other members of St. Brendan’s parish in the Bronx, fed the homeless and Penn and Grand Central Stations on Wednesday nights.
Nothing can assuage the grief his loved ones feel today. No words can ease the pain. All they have to sustain them are warm memories of a man who clearly was an inspiration to others, a man who, in his short time on earth, treated the less fortunate with dignity, who demonstrated every day how full an active and charitable life can be.