Obituary: Gemma McCarthy Toomey Sullivan – Montclair Local

Gemma McCarthy Toomey Sullivan, a longtime Montclair resident active in community service, died on Oct. 25, 2021. She was 81.

Mrs. Sullivan was born in 1940 and spent her early years in Bayonne. She lived in Montclair since 1965. 

She graduated summa cum laude from the College of St. Elizabeth in Convent Station and earned a master’s in counseling services at Upsala College. 

Mrs. Sullivan was a parishioner of St. Cassian Church and served on its parish council  during its formative years after the Second Vatican Council. 

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She was a co-chair of the Writer’s Room at Montclair High School for 15 years and volunteered and chaired the Essex County Division of the New Jersey Child Placement Review Board for over 20 years.

Mrs. Sullivan was a member of the board of directors at Job Haines Home in Bloomfield for 30 years and served as its chair for 21 years. She also volunteered at the Montclair Human Needs Food Pantry for over 20 years.

She enjoyed spending her summers on Martha’s Vineyard for the last 50 years and organizing a revolving door of visiting family and friends. She spent many years gardening and fending off deer at her homes in Montclair and on Martha’s Vineyard. She also served as the first woman member of the Farm Neck Golf Club board of directors on Martha’s Vineyard.

Mrs. Sullivan is survived by her loving husband of 40 years, Thomas Sullivan; her sister, Patricia McCarthy; her children, David, John (Tricia), Mark and Paul Toomey; her granddaughters, Leah, Kiera, Scarlett and Finley Toomey, and many nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by her husband, David J. Toomey; her sisters, Sheila Magrini and Ginny McGill, and her brother, Thomas McCarthy. 

Visitation will be Thursday, Oct. 28, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at Hugh M. Moriarty Funeral Home, 76 Park St.,  Montclair, with a funeral Mass on Friday, Oct. 29, at 10 a.m. at St. Cassian Church, 187 Bellevue Ave. 

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Memorial Sloan Kettering Pediatric Cancer Center, mskcc.org.