William Flanagan Jr., 88 or 89 years old, died Thursday, Aug. 20. The former Darien resident had served eight years on the Planning & Zoning Commission, four years on the Monuments and Ceremonies Commission and a year on the Representative Town Meeting.
An obituary from Spadaccino and Leo P. Gallagher & Son Community Funeral Home:
William “Bill” K. Flanagan Jr. was born and raised in South Orange, N.J. in 1926. He graduated from Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J., in 1944.
William Flanagan Jr.’s funeral will be held at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday at St. Thomas More Church in Darien
Prior to graduating from high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and was assigned to the 144th Naval Construction Battalion Advance Base Construction Depot in Guam. He attended Navy officer training at the Univ. of Mississippi and was honorably discharged in June 1945.
In 1949, Bill received a B.A degree in history from Brown University, and in 1952, a J.D, degree in law from Rutgers Law School. He was a member of the bar in New Jersey and New York. He started his legal career as a litigator in his father’s firm in Newark, N.J., where he completed many jury trials.
He then went to ITT Corporation where he worked for 30 years as an international corporate transaction attorney. He retired from ITT in 1987 as a senior legal officer of the company. For several years thereafter, Bill was an attorney for Walsh Construction Company, in Trumbull, CT.
Bill served the Town of Darien for more than 12 years: 1 year on the RTM, 8 years on the Planning and Zoning Commission and 4 years on the Monuments and Ceremonies Commission.
He was a member of the Darien Senior Men’s Association (president in 2000-01), and of the Senior Songsters and sang with several church choirs.
His wife for over 30 years, Lynn DeCesare, died in 1990. He later married Anne La Ferte Meyjes, who died in 2014. His sister, Patricia Kiernan, and his brother, Philbin Flanagan, predeceased him. He is survived by his brother, Bruce Flanagan, and four children, William Flanagan III, Suzanne Wright, Tara Flanagan, and Nina Flanagan, and five grandchildren.
There are no calling hours. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, Aug. 25 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Thomas More Church in Darien, CT. Online condolences may be made by visiting the funeral home website.