Marianne Toy of Sag Harbor died on August 5 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan. She was 60.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1954 to parents Ellis Faraday and Mary Burns Faraday, Ms. Toy was proud to share a birthday, May 29, with President John F. Kennedy. The family moved to Sag Harbor when she was just 2 and she spent most of her life, growing up and for the last 15 years, in the same house across the street from the school. She graduated from Pierson High School in 1972.
According to her eldest daughter, the first thing people noticed about Ms. Toy was her smile. “She was very pretty,” Emily Toy said of her mother. “It didn’t take much time, though, before the beauty behind the pretty face was evident.
“She was very caring and concerned about other people and whatever they were going through,” Ms. Toy said. “But she was also very practical and honest. She’d tell you what you needed to know, even if you didn’t want to hear it.” A testament to a lifetime spent thinking of others, Ms. Toy took a moment in the throes of her illness to write her family—husband Jerome, and daughters Emily, Rachel and Megan—telling them how lucky she felt to have had such a wonderful family to spend her life loving.
An array of employment positions kept Ms. Toy—described by family as a hard worker—busy during her younger years. She ran a cleaning service, worked as a florist and at area restaurants. In 1978 she met Jerome Toy at the Corner Bar. The couple married in 1986 and lived for a time on Deering Road. They raised three daughters and Ms. Toy worked for the last 15 years at Hamptons Dental Group.
Despite a full schedule of work, it was her family that was Ms. Toy’s focus. She loved to cook and play host for family and friends. She was passionate about food and “had a great palate,” Emily Toy said. “Every food snob element I have comes from her.”
Her most cherished moments were spent relaxing and having a good time with loved ones filling her home. She enjoyed the beach and took pleasure in planting flowers in her yard.
Reading was a joy and she always had a book ready to read. Ms. Toy was especially excited for her daughters when they expressed interest and began to follow career paths in the arts.
In addition to her immediate family, Ms. Toy is survived by a brother, William Faraday and wife Mary of Rockville Centre and their children Kate and Patrick; sister Ellen Sowa and husband Steve of Massachusetts; and brother Robert Farady and wife Laurie and their daughter, Mary. Her parents predeceased her.
The family received friends on August 9 at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor. A funeral Mass took place on August 11 at St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic Church in Sag Harbor followed by burial in the church cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to Cormaria retreat house, P.O. Box 1993, Sag Harbor, NY 11963 or the Lung Cancer Research Fund, www.lungcancerresearchfoundation.org.