On April 17, 2026, Dr. Patrick J. Gannon, 72, of City Island passed away peacefully from complications of cancer treatment. He was surrounded by family.
The son of Joan and John E. Gannon, Patrick was born in the city of Leeds in Yorkshire, England, on May 13, 1954. His early life and passion for books were shaped by the Jesuits at St. Thomas Aquinas. He trained in London as a photographer and landed his first professional position at Cambridge University. There he made a pivotal friendship with a visiting scientist, who recruited him to a research lab at Mount Sinai Hospital to conduct electron microscopic photography on brain cells. This adventurous move across the pond to New York City launched a new life and a storied career in the biomedical sciences and paleoneuroanthropology.
Patrick worked with clinician-scientists in Otolaryngology conducting their lab research studies while he was enrolled in a PhD program at CUNY to pursue his interest in physical anthropology. Independent grants funded his studies on the evolutionary origins of human brain language areas where he led significant discoveries. Later with a young ENT surgical fellow in his lab, Patrick developed the animal model for tracheal transplants that have now been successfully conducted in human subjects. In every project his commitment and enthusiasm were palpable.
He met Nancy at Sinai in a yearlong clinical neuroanatomy course through her doctoral advisor. This forged collaboration in the lab and in life for over 35 years. Notably, they developed a NASA-funded curriculum inspired by the biomedicine of humans in space and mentored many NYC teachers and students through the “Defying Gravity” program. Education and public outreach became a way of life.
Patrick rose to faculty rank of full professor at Mount Sinai, his professional home for 36 years, where he served as a research scientist, anatomist and trained medical, graduate students, and clinical residents through mentored research projects. He left Sinai to serve as the founding chair of the Science Education Dept at the Zucker School of Medicine (Hofstra-Northwell) where Patrick recruited the entire basic science faculty and developed innovative curricula and evaluation tools. In semi-retirement he worked as Academic Dean in a medical school in St Lucia, and most recently supported lab instruction in Gross Anatomy at SUNY Downstate SOM. Patrick embraced an “alternative” retirement, engaging in a myriad of hobbies with purpose and discipline, precisely how he approached every endeavor in work and life.
In his private life, Patrick was a master beekeeper for more than 50 years and an avid environmental conservationist. The City Island Gold Apiary, founded in 2005, was a teaching space for families and beekeepers at all levels, and the source of coveted City Island Gold honey. He was active in multiple community groups, set up apiaries at the NYBG, Sands Point Preserve and served on the board of the Hutchinson River Restoration Project. In 2025 we conducted a study of pesticides in pollen and honey collected by honeybees colonies across the island.
Patrick loved sailing, rock music, motorcycles, gardening, wildlife, birdwatching and collecting rare books. He mastered traditional British cuisine, kept chickens and canaries, made his own beer and cultivated phenomenal cannabis. Bonfires in the garden with family and friends were a way to celebrate, grieve, unwind and meditate on the meaning of life. His understated personality and humor complemented his outsized generosity, deep friendships, willingness to help others and activism in the causes he cared about.
He is survived by his wife, Dr. Nancy Kheck; his sister, Linda Gannon, and her husband, John Cliffe of Leeds, UK; his daughter Colleen Gannon and her husband, Rick Hollis; his son, Julian Gannon, and his wife, Noreen Ali; his daughter Hannah Gannon, and grandchildren Hunter, Cole, Izzy and Alex Hollis. Patrick was beyond proud of his family, and the mentees with whom he forged enduring personal friendships. His was truly a life well-lived.
A memorial service will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 30, at John Dormi & Sons Funeral Home, 1121 Morris Park Avenue. A funeral mass will be held at St. Mary, Star of the Sea Church on May 1st, 2026.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested memorial donations to the Garden Club of City Island, P.O. Box 43, Bronx, NY 10464.
