IN MEMORY OF PAUL TRACY, JR. (December 16,1970- June 26, 2026)

Born in the Norwood neighborhood of the Bronx, Paul Francis Tracy, Jr. attended the Saint Brendan School until he moved with his family to Fishkill, NY in 1979. There he continued his schooling at St. Mary, Mother of the Church. Paul graduated from John Jay High School, class of 1988. He graduated from Marist College in 1992 with a degree in Computer Science. Paul leveraged his keen analytical mind in computer work for most of his career: applying his skills to support data entry projects at Marist, the US Postal Service, and in health care claims management. Most recently he was an Account Manager for Community Playthings in Poughkeepsie. But Paul's life was in no way defined by his work.

An avid fan of music, especially 1980s-era punk and metal, Paul attended upwards of 1000 live concerts. As a teenager, he worked at the St. Mary's rectory reception desk. There, he put the WPDH phone number on speed dial, which enabled him to win tickets to many local shows. In recent years he especially looked forward annually to Maryland's M3 Festival with his "crew," Kev, Jimmy, and Ant; together with Paul: "The Four Musketeers."

Over the years he met hundreds of celebrities. He amassed a large collection of photos and autographs, expanding his collection to all types of rock and roll, film, and pop culture ephemera. He had a collectibles business which sometimes sustained him as a sole income source. For a time he and his sister Jen ran toy and collectible shows in the Hudson Valley.

Paul valued friends and family above all. His dearest friends were family to him. He took pride in remembering small details about loved ones, helping him to choose thoughtful and unique holiday gifts.

He was the leader, organizer, and wrangler of his friends for many activities, such as weekly trivia nights and concert tailgating parties. Combining his love of movies and tailgating, many summer nights with friends were also spent at local drive-in theaters.

For years, Paul had a monthly movie night where he showed esoteric double feature B-movies, usually chosen to a theme, with an ample variety of snacks, especially Sabrett's hot dogs (for the "snap"). During the Covid-19 pause, Paul ran "Sequestered Cinema," a group where B-movies were synchronously watched by friends across the country along with a snark-laden chat thread to accompany the movie. He created a true community with this group and hosted additional activities, like the Sequestered Secret Santa event, which elevated the chatters into true friends.

Paul was an aficionado of bar culture. At his favorite bars he was known to load up the juke box with his favorite tunes. He loved arcade games, especially pinball; trivia, and darts. He loved to choose timely and hilarious team names for his weekly trivia group. He loved puzzles and games of all sorts. After playing a new board game, he would often critique it and determine how the rules could be adapted to make for a better gaming experience. His epic, day-long scavenger hunts for friends are legendary. Contestants who drank milk and Pepsi for the last one will certainly never forget.

In 2017, he met his wife Elaine. At the time, he lived in Kingston NY, she in Coxsackie NY. They split the difference and found an apartment in Catskill, NY in the summer of 2024. They were married on March 18, 2026.

Our acutely smart, exceptionally funny, caring, generous, and affable Paul was defeated by his arch-nemesis: pancreatic cancer, far sooner than any of us expected. He fought the good fight, and is deeply loved and sorely missed. He is survived by his wife Elaine Lasda, parents Paul Senior and Ann (Reilly) Tracy; sisters Jennifer Delaney (Scott), and Tara Leshaj (Martin),and nieces Abigail Delaney and Freya Leshaj.

If you want to honor Paul's memory, do the New York Times Wordle with a friend and compare strategies of how you solved it.

In lieu of flowers, please donate in Paul's name to The Flutter Club, which helped him travel to New York City for treatments https://www.flutterclub.com/get-involved ; or MusiCares https://www.musicares.org/get-help/?form=donate