Pat Troy, Irish Businessman and Alexandria Living Legend, Dies at 76
Alexandria Mayor Allison Silberberg tweeted at 8:47 am Thursday, March 22, “It is with deep sorrow that I report Alexandria Living Legend, prominent business leader, and founder of our St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Pat Troy, passed away this morning. Pat helped many people and had a lasting impact on Alexandria. He was a dear friend and will be sorely missed.”
Born in Ireland in 1941, Pat Troy was one of three brothers who dropped out of school when he was 13 to work as a farmhand. In 2011, he told the Washington Times, “I didn’t like school. If you didn’t know it, you didn’t know it,” Mr. Troy said. “I did everything on the farm. It was hard work, but I was proud of bringing home a few shillings.”
He worked his way up and met a lady from Detroit who offered him work at her son’s company in the United States. The young 21-yr old immigrant stepped on American soil for the first time in 1962 and made the land his own. He soon got a job as a butler in Washington, and cut his teeth for three years in the service industry where his bubbling personality helped him interact with people like President Eisenhower, Bobby Kennedy, and even Charles Lindbergh.
His ambitions looked to business and when he opened Pat Troy’s Ireland’s Own in Alexandria, he instantly became a part of the business and civic community.
A deeply religious man, he was a parishioner at St. Mary’s Catholic Church for more than 40 years, and has been married to his wife, Bernadette, for 45 years.
They both recently were the Grand Marshals on Sunday, March 18, 2018 for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Alexandria, the event he founded, along with the Ballyshaners organization over 30 years ago.
In 2010, Pat Troy was honored as a Living Legends of Alexandria.
Editor’s Note: We will publish details of Pat Troy’s funeral service as soon as details are released]
My heart is broken, but he had a good long life. RIP My Friend.
He was there for my mother Eileen, (who was an Irish immigrant from Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland), and myself since we first arrived in Alexandria all those years ago. He even let me compete in the rose of Tralee pageant when I was in high school.
Thank you, Pat, for all you’ve given me and my family over the years.
My condolences to Mrs. Bernadette Troy, hl their children, and his extended friends and family, both here and ‘back home’.
PS…in your honor, Mr. Troy, I will sing The Unicorn Song, although here in Hollywood, CA, it may be a little difficult to find a “clapping hands hat” these days.😉