Richard Pasqual Fernandez

AMENIA — Richard Pasqual Fernandez, 72, died Aug. 28, 2010, in Edgewater, Fla., after a long illness, with his family surrounding him.

Mr. Fernandez was born May 6, 1938, in Middletown, N.Y., to the late Camilla (Veraldi) and Jose Dominguez Fernandez.

Mr. Fernandez was active in the track and football teams for the Middletown Middies, graduating from Middletown High School in 1956. He became a registered pharmacist after graduating from Union University’s Albany College of Pharmacy in 1960.

He married Jane Ellen Ahern in 1959, and together they had four children; she predeceased him in 1997.

He owned Colonial Pharmacy of Amenia from 1972 through 2002, when he retired to Edgewater. He ran Colonial Pharmacy while Mrs. Fernandez ran the attached Jane’s Hallmark Store at the Ames Plaza on Route 22.

He also served as a member of the Amenia Planning Board and as both a member and then chairman of the Amenia Zoning Board of Appeals. He was an honorary member of the Amenia Fire Department, having contributed numerous hours to various fire department fundraisers.

Mr. Fernandez was instrumental in creating Amenia’s soccer, softball and baseball fields along Route 44 and in creating and maintaining bus stop shelters for children, some of which remain.

He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Jane Fernandez Memorial Scholarship Fund at Maplebrook School in Amenia, a scholarship created in honor of his wife’s tireless efforts in educating students with special needs.

Mr. Fernandez was a 50-year member of the Benevolent Protective Order of the Elks No. 1097 in Middletown. He was also a member of the Lions Club of Amenia, having served with that organization for more than 40 years and as president in the 1970s.

He is survived by his four children, Patricia  S. Fernandez and her husband, Martin “Redâ€� Cohen, Joseph William Fernandez and his wife, Rosalee Mares Fernandez, Susan M. Fernandez and Steven Robert Fernandez and his wife, Amy Jo Van Scoy; and his grandchildren, Rachel Fernandez Cohen of North Andover, Mass., Gabriela Aurelia Fernandez of West Des Moines, Iowa, Andrew Steven Fernandez of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., Richard Anthony Fernandez of West Des Moines, Samantha Jane Fernandez of New Smyrna Beach and Alaina Nicole Van Scoy of New Smyrna Beach.

Mr. Fernandez’ life will be celebrated with a Mass of Christian burial at 11 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 2, at the church where he was baptized, received his First Eucharist, his First Reconciliation and where he was married, St. Joseph’s Church, 149 Cottage St., Middletown.

He will be buried beside his wife and his parents at St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

Arrangements are through Morse Funeral Home, Inc., Middletown.

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