Tom Byrne
2024 Grand Marshal
Mr. Byrne was born in Westchester, one of five children of William W. and Irene K. Byrne. His great great grandparents, Patrick Byrne and Anna Healy, were born in Glendalough, County Wicklow, Ireland. Glendalough is located in what is now the Wicklow Mountains National Park, one of Ireland’s six national parks. It is also home to one of the most important monastic sites in Ireland, founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century, where the monastic remains include the 30 meter tall “Round Tower.”
Anna Byrne and her children came to New York after Patrick died in 1844. One of their sons, also named Patrick, Tom’s great grandfather who was born in Glendalough, joined the NYPD after coming to New York, rising to the rank of Captain.
Capt. Patrick Byrne was one of the first responders to the worst maritime disaster in NYC history. He received a commendation for his conduct during the “General Slocum” disaster in June 1904. The “General Slocum” was a sidewheel steamboat that caught fire in the East River near Rikers Island while carrying over 1300 passengers. More than 1000 passengers died that day, the largest loss of life in NYC from a single event until the September 11 tragedy nearly 100 years later.
Tom is also related through his wife Megan to the Reillys of County Mayo. Mary Maloney, née Reilly, great grandmother to Tom and Megan’s four children, was born in 1903 on the island of Inishkea South, off the Mullet Peninsula in County Mayo, one of the furthest northwest points in Ireland. Life on the island was hard, and the family subsisted as fishermen, using small Irish curraghs to catch fish in the North Atlantic. In October 1927, two of Mary’s younger brothers drowned while out fishing, when a hurricane came up suddenly, killing 45 fishermen in all. Mary’s younger brother Pat survived the disaster. The event was known as “The Drowning”, and led to the families on Inishkea North and South abandoning the islands for the mainland near Belmullet, County Mayo.
As the oldest child, Mary Reilly came to New York by herself shortly after The Drowning to help relieve the pressure on her parents of raising such a large family. After raising her own family with Daniel Maloney of County Clare in Yonkers, Mary ended up living in Greenwich in her last years where she died at the age of 103 in 2007.
Mr. Byrne attended Catholic schools in Westchester, graduating from Sts. John & Paul School in Larchmont and Iona Prep. He also graduated from Yale and Stanford Law School, and practiced law in Connecticut for 15 years. He then became a high school teacher and has been teaching AP Physics in Westchester for over 25 years. He and Megan are members of St. Clement Parish in Stamford.
Mr. Byrne began serving on the Greenwich RTM in 1988, representing District 6, Old Greenwich. In his first eight years on the RTM, he served on the Education Committee, and served as the chairman of District 6 for six of those years. In 1996, Mr. Byrne was elected the sixth Moderator of the RTM and was elected Moderator a total of 13 times. His 26 years as RTM Moderator is the longest tenure in the history of the RTM. He retired from the RTM in December 2023.
Tom coached his two oldest sons in the OGRCC baseball program for nine years. He is an active member of the basketball and baseball officials groups in Fairfield County and is currently Vice-President of the Connecticut Board of Approved Baseball Umpires. He has officiated all levels of basketball and baseball in Fairfield County for over 25 years.
Tom and his wife Megan have four children and six grandchildren. Oldest son Joseph lives with his wife Kristi and two children in Ridgefield. Dan, a lieutenant in the Greenwich Fire Department, lives with his wife Mariah and their three girls in Norwalk. Michael is a former captain of the Sound Beach Volunteer Fire Department and member of the Dive Team, and will be married in September to Kaitlyn Hubbel. Youngest daughter Kristina is a Navy helicopter pilot with two deployments to the Middle East who lives in Norfolk, Va. with her husband Scott (also active duty Navy) and their daughter. They are expecting their second child in February.