Joseph H. Harrigan, Sr.

Joseph H. Harrigan, Sr., 75, a lifetime resident of South Amboy died on Tuesday July 10, 2018 at Bayshore Community Hospital, Holmdel.  Joe (also known as the Big Kahuna and more recently Poppy) was the President of JJ Harrigan Real Estate & Insurance company here in South Amboy. A 1961 graduate of Oratory Prep School in Summit he went on to attended the University of Dayton in Ohio. He was very active in the community serving in various positions. He was president of the NJ Board of Realtors in 2000, past president of the Middlesex County Board of Realtors and served as the real estate consultant at the inception of the Diocese of Metuchen. He also served on the Boards of Perth Amboy/Bankers Savings  and the Sadie Pope Dowdell Library.  He was president of Garden State Hospitalization and chairman of the Board of South Amboy Memorial Hospital.  He was a member of the South Amboy Elks Lodge 784; the Ancient Order of Hibernians; Old Bridge Rotary Club and Knights of Columbus Council 426, South Amboy.  He enjoyed his memberships at Forsgate, Battleground and Glenwood Country Clubs.  He recently calculated that he had played golf on over 200 courses with one of them being Pine Valley.  Besides loving the game of golf, he was an avid reader, a phenomenal cook, an incredible story-teller,  and a collector of classical cars, music and nautical art. 

He is preceded in death by his parents James and Rita Harrigan. He is survived by his daughter Lisa Harrigan Rudy and her husband Daron of Enid, Oklahoma; his sons Joseph H. Harrigan, Jr. and his wife Ellen and Brian J. Harrigan, all of South Amboy; his brothers Thomas Harrigan and his wife Carol of Virginia; brother James Harrigan of New Lisbon; sister Marijo Harrigan of South Amboy; Poppy and his former wife Dorothy E. Harrigan adored 6 amazing grandchildren; Kathryn, Gregory, Alex, and Ryan Harrigan of South Amboy and Grace and Joseph Harrigan “Harry”,  of Enid, Oklahoma. 

A memorial service will be held on Tuesday July 17, 2018 at 6:30pm at The Gundrum Service “Home For Funerals” 237 Bordentown Avenue, South Amboy. Visitation will be on Tuesday from 4 to 7pm. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the ALS Association, 1275 K Street NW, Suite 250, Washington DC 20005, www.alsa.org.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Joseph H. Harrigan, Sr., please visit our floral store.