Chamber planning monument for Cahill

The Valley Stream Chamber of Commerce is looking to honor late Mayor Ed Cahill with a permanent monument near Village Hall, and is working to raise a few thousand dollars for a plaque.

Chamber Vice President Jules Rabin is leading the effort. He said the chamber is looking to erect a memorial similar to the one for former Mayor Charles Monica outside of the Henry Waldinger Library.

Cahill died on July 30 after succumbing to a brain tumor. He was the mayor for 11 years, the second longest tenure of any Valley Stream mayor to Henry Waldinger. Cahill was a regular at the Chamber of Commerce’s monthly networking lunches as well as other events. “Mayor Cahill was a wonderful friend to the chamber,” President Debbi Gyulay said. “It’s the chamber’s honor to organize this project. He well deserves our honoring his memory.”

“He was just a marvelous, marvelous human being,” Rabin said, “as well as a mayor who truly cared about the people of Valley Stream.”

Rabin said that the chamber will soon send out letters seeking donations. It doesn’t matter if it’s five bucks,” he said. “We’ll be delighted to take it.”

After the funding is secure, Rabin said the plaque will be made and an unveiling ceremony with local officials will be planned. He said he asked village officials to seek out a nice stone on which to mount the plaque.

Mary Ann Cahill, the mayor’s widow, said she was delighted to hear that the chamber is planning this memorial. “I think it’s great,” she said. “It’s nice that they’re thinking of that.”

Acting Mayor Joanne Antun said it was an easy decision to give the Chamber of Commerce the approval to plan a memorial on village property. “We have no objection, of course, to them doing the monument,” she said.

Rabin said he hopes to have the memorial in place by the end of the year. “There’s nobody who didn’t like him,” Rabin said of Cahill. “It was a tragedy that he was taken from us.”

Contributions can be sent to:

Valley Stream Chamber of Commerce
P.O. Box 1016
Valley Stream, NY 11582

For more information, call (516) 825-1741 or email valleystreamcc@
gmail.com.