February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Daniel T. Scannell, who has been involved in running the city’s subways, buses, and suburban railroads for more than 40 years, was recently honored as the 1998 Gold Medalist of the American Irish Historical Society.
Scannell, first vice-chairman of the MTA and also interim president of the Metro-North Railroad, received the award earlier this month at the Society’s 101st annual dinner, which was held at the Waldorf-Astoria.
"Dan is a legend in his own time," said Dr. Kevin M. Cahill, the group’s president-general. "From city cop and detective to a history-making assistant corporation lawyer and then for decades a leader and prime mover in our transportation system, he has been one of the city’s great treasures, a living example of the role the American Irish have played in building this nation."
Scannell, who’s 85, first put his career on the rails in 1955 when he was named general counsel to the Transit Authority. He went on to become a commissioner and then senior executive officer of the TA. He was promoted to the MTA board in 1976 and has been the first vice chairman since 1980. Last March became interim president of the Metro-North Railroad.
Scannell’s parents immigrated from southern Ireland in the late 1800s. His father, Daniel, was from Kerry, and his mother, Eleanor Welsh, from Cork. They settled in the heavily Irish section of the Bronx.
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