b'OBITUARY:FIRE ISLAND FERRIES ED MOONEY PASSES AWAY AT 91S ome people are drawn to the water atHisgranddaughter,MorganMooney, an early age and just seem to knowwhochairsthePVAEmergingLeaders thatswheretheybelong.EdwinJ.Committee and is a licensed captain who Mooney was one of those people. Soon a\x1f erworks for the ferry, acknowledged that her graduating high school, Ed Mooney, whograndfatherranatightship,whichshe passed away on December 26 at age 91, tookappreciated. a job as a deckhand at Fire Island Ferries in Bay Shore, NY in 1948. A\x1f er a stint inWe shared a lot of memories around the the U.S. Army where he worked on boatswater together, Morgan recalled. When in France, the New Jersey native eventuallymy dad was on the boat or my uncle or my made his way back to Fire Island Ferriesbrother, that didnt bother me. But when and purchased the operation in 1971. \x1eatsmy grandfather was in my wheelhouse and when he started to make his mark.aboard my boat, I was needing to make sure I had every little nuance down because \x1eeferryspreviousownershada\x1d eetI didnt want to mess up in front of him. ofagingWWII-erawoodenboatsthatit usedtoshuttlepassengersbetweenBayTimMooney,whoisnowtheferry Shore, NY on Long Island to Fire Island,operations president as well as co-owner a designated national seashore and a statewith his brother, Mike, learned a lot from park.A\x1f erbuyingtheferrybusiness,hishands-onfatheronhowtoruna Mooney began phasing out the small, oldsuccessful ferry operation.boats and replacing them with larger, steel ferries.Everydayyouwereconfrontedwitha new challenge or something to work on He really moved the business forward intoor contend with, Tim said. He enjoyed the modern age, if you will, Tim Mooneythechallengeofproblemsolvingas saidofhislatefather.\x1eebusinesswasthings came up, and the ability to apply picking up, and he needed boats that couldsome thought, some expertise, and some carry more passengers. \x1eese surplus boatsknowledge to something and come up with that they were using were limited in theira remedy.capacity, and the newer boats were two and three times the capacity of the older boats.Today,withits\x1d of25vesselspluseet one bargeFire Island Ferries carries one Inadditiontomodernizingthe\x1d themillion passengers annually across Greateet, elder Mooney, who was a long-time PVASouth Bay. \x1ee operators busiest season is memberandastaunchsupporterofthethe summer when beachgoers \x1d ock to the association, also took safety seriously andislands beaches. impressed the need for safe operations to his crew.With his years of hard work, Ed Mooneys passion for the passenger vessel operation He was a good man to work for, said Davewas well known and infectious. Anderson, a past PVA President who has worked at Fire Island Ferries since 1984. HeHejustlovedthebusiness.Heloved was very demanding and safety-oriented. being on the water and loved running the boats. He was very much committed to the industry, his son Tim said.Photo captions:Ed Mooney pilots a ferry, like he has since 1971. Photo: Jane MooneyEd Mooneys last trip around Great South Bay, NY.The ferry carried current and past crew as well as family and friends onboard for his fi nal send o . Photo: Kelley MooneyFEB 2021 43'