Eugene O'Rourke

The U. S. Navy’s SeaBees' motto is “We Build - We Fight!”  Gene O’Rourke was a SeaBee and a builder all his life. He followed his brother, his father, and his uncles into work as a structural and ornamental ironworker. He tackled big jobs like the hanging of the George Washington Bridge lower deck. In Vietnam, the SeaBees built airfields, bridges, and highways, earning their “We Build” reputation.

Back home, Gene and his brother Gerry built their own business, Fort Lee Iron Works, into a respected and trusted performer. But his outstanding skill was in building strong and enduring bonds with other people. He made good friends, and he kept them too. People knew if they needed help, they could call Gene. There was iron in the bonds of his friendship. Once a friend, you never got away.

Kathy never got away after Gene swept her off the Vermont ski slopes and out of Park Slope, Brooklyn to New Jersey. As Kathy tells it, she stuck with him even though he was a lousy dancer. Together they built a strong family with three boys and a girl. Gene treasured his children and grandchildren, who remember him as a fun and silly grandpa.

He was born Eugene Harry O’Rourke at Kearney Hospital, June 7, 1940, to Ethel and Harry O’Rourke, the third boy - not the girl they hoped for - but to their surprise, he was the only child to have his mother’s very blue eyes. For the whole of his life, he brought the conviction that anything is possible, and that God shows the way - to be true to yourself and one with the ones you love.

In the life he and Kathy built, all were remembered, named, connected, recognized, included - nobody got away.

On Sunday, November 10th, Gene O’Rourke passed away from complications of Parkinson’s Disease. He lives on through the stories that were built from his life with his beautiful family and in Fort Lee during the '50s and '60s. 

He is survived by his wife Kathy, daughter Shannon (Matt), sons Ryan (Kate) and Brendan (Catherine), five grandchildren, his brothers Jim and Gerry (Rosarie) and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his son, Shane.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that donations be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research or Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital in honor of Gene O’Rourke’s memory. 

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