By TIFFANY RAZZANO
O'Toole was born at Mercy Hospital in 1952 and was raised in Rockville Centre. He grew up in a family with 15 children, many of whom are still Rockville Centre residents. He attended St. Agnes Grammar School and St. Agnes High School, graduating in 1970. He went on to Manhattan College, graduating with a B.S. in business administration in 1974.
In 1973, he married Rosemary Murray, who he met at St. Agnes. She had lived down the block from him. The two were married for 25 years.
As soon as he graduated from college, O'Toole began working in the sales department of the Long Island office of Wallace Computer Services, an Illinois-based company. He stayed with the company throughout his entire career, though, because of various mergers and acquisitions over the years, by the time he died the company was known as RR Donnelly. He worked his way up to a sales executive position, but stepped down so that he wouldn't have to travel for business so often and would have more time with his family.
O'Toole lived in Levittown and East Rockaway for a while before moving back to Rockville Centre with his family in 1987.
His children say that O'Toole was a very big family man. "He's part of a huge family," said his son, Brian O'Toole. "He loved his family... The last couple of years, my brother has a daughter and I have a son, and [my father] was really proud of his grandkids."
O'Toole's daughter, Rosemary Herlihy, said her fondest memory of her father was her wedding day, when he walked her down the aisle Other than that, her fond memories of him come from day to day activities such as going out to dinner with him or sitting around watching television. "He was always there for us, me and my brothers," she said. "Anything we needed, he was always there."
Patrick O'Toole remembers his father, who ran track when he was younger, coming out cheer him on during every one of his cross-country and track meets during high school and college. "That's a big memory," he said. "He was always around for those kinds of things."
O'Toole was also known for his love of the outdoors, especially his boat. "We went fishing all the time," said his son Brian. "That was his big passion, going out on his boat and going fishing... He very much enjoyed the outdoors. Growing up, he would go clamming with brothers, and go out on the boat with his father." He said his father often took the family skiing in Vermont and he also loved to golf.
Herlihy added, "He would go out every weekend and go fishing and take everybody out on it."
"My father loved being out there doing things," said O'Toole's son Patrick. "He was not an idle person. He had a full slate all the time... He loved to work. He worked hard. He used to say, 'They don't call it going to fun.' As hard as he worked, he played just as hard."
Both family and friends came to know O'Toole as a friendly, funny and warm-hearted person. "He liked to do whatever was social," his son, Thomas said. "He always liked being surrounded by people, family or friends, and I think that's why so many people came to the wake. He was a very personable man. That's why he was always good at sales. He was never trying to sell anything; he was just trying to make friends."
"He was a funny, funny guy," Herlihy said. "He had a million friends. The funeral services were overwhelming, there were so many people there."
Funeral services were held December 20 and 21 at Thomas A. Glynn & Son Funeral Home. The funeral mass was held on December 22 at St. Agnes Cathedral, followed by the burial at St. John's Cemetery in Queens. O'Toole is survived by his children, Brian, Thomas and Patrick O'Toole and Rosemary Herlihy; his grandchildren Cailin and William; and his girlfriend Ginger Keinath-Bottari.
