George Farrell, Jr. of Sag Harbor Remembered as Leading Lawyer

George J. Farrell Jr., Esq., a former lawmaker who founded one of the leading law firms on Long Island, died at his Sag Harbor home on Monday, December 11. He was 93.

Farrell was born in Jackson Heights, New York to George and Mae (Travers) Farrell. He graduated from Xavier High School in 1948, earned his B.S. in Political Science from Fordham University in 1952 and his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in 1957. He honorably served in the U.S. Army from 1952–1953, deployed to Japan during the Korean War.

From 1963–1965, he served as mayor of the Village of Floral Park, and in 1966, he was elected to serve his community in the New York State Assembly, where he left office as a ranking member. After his political career, Farrell and his closest friends co-founded a law firm, now known as Farrell Fritz. It was important to Farrell that the firm’s commitment to legal excellence always included giving back to the community and those in need.

As the firm grew larger and with various office locations, its ability to help the disenfranchised reached new heights and continues onward to the present. Farrell’s core values of service and family helped build the firm from the ground up and remain omnipresent in the firm’s culture today. His former colleagues describe him as a mentor, a perfect embodiment of what a consummate lawyer should be, compassionate, caring, a trusted advisor and akin to George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life — having no idea how many lives he impacted in a positive way.

For 40-plus years Farrell sat on various nonprofit boards including Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, as chairman of the board for Winthrop University Hospital (now NYU Langone Winthrop), and RHSM Cormaria Retreat House. He was integrally involved in a public service health startup, the American Health Initiative.

Upon his semi-retirement, the State Department and Eastern European Law Initiative tasked Farrell to help write the new Constitution for the Republic of Macedonia. While there, his wife Patricia also had the opportunity to teach English with Mother Teresa’s order in Skopje. George and Patricia accepted this assignment with humility and always remained grateful for the once-in-a-lifetime experience to help others.

In addition to his impressive professional accomplishments, Farrell was an avid golfer and enjoyed living on the East End. Above all, he will be remembered most for the love he had for his wife of 66 years, who was his world, his everything, along with the family they created together. George and Patricia were blessed with their children Kathleen, Joseph (Omar), Kevin (Eileen), Elizabeth Dubuss (Robert) and Margaret.

He was also a loving grandfather and had six grandchildren: Jessica (Amanda), Kerry (Brian), Brendan, Brigid, Colleen and Robert (deceased); and seven great grandchildren: Griffin, Olive, Xander, Hazel, Reese, Wells and Dash. Farrell is also survived by his sisters, Eileen Reynolds and Mary Salmon, and many nieces and nephews. His loyal service dog in training was by his side when he died, and Farrell is now reunited with his two deceased children, Joseph and Paul.