Dennis Patrick Lynch entered eternal life April 10, 2021, in his 80th year. Born in Jersey City, Dennis was a son of Thomas E. Lynch and Mary Doust Lynch. A longtime resident of Rumson, he was a graduate of Red Bank Catholic High School.
After spending a postgraduate year at Phillips Exeter Academy, Dennis earned a B.A. from Yale College in 1964. Upon completion of his service in the Coast Guard, Dennis married his former classmate, Ann Marie Blades, his “best friend for life.” The newlyweds moved to Philadelphia where Dennis studied for his M.B.A. at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, majoring in finance. He became a vice president at Smith, Barney & Co. before cofounding the investment advisory firm of Lynch and Mayer, Inc. in New York City in 1976. For 20 years L & M ranked nationally in the top quintile of large-cap investment managers.
Early retirement years were partly spent in Hanover, New Hampshire, and Essex, Connecticut.
Throughout his school years and thereafter, Dennis pursued an outstanding athletic career, distinguishing himself on both the basketball and tennis courts. A member of the 1962 Yale Ivy League Basketball Championship team, Dennis was named an All-Ivy player in 1963 and 1964, was point guard for the Navy and All-Service teams in 1965, and was drafted by the N.Y. Knickerbockers. Dennis was also captain of the 1964 Yale tennis team and of the Yale-Harvard team that played Oxford-Cambridge in the Prentice Cup matches of that year. He was a longtime singles and doubles champion at the Seabright Lawn Tennis & Cricket Club. In 2000 the Asbury Park Press voted him second best player in the history of Jersey Shore Tennis.
During the previous quarter century, aside from his election to the Rumson Borough Council, Dennis served on the board of the Navesink House (now The Atrium CCRC) and was vice-chair of the Rumson Country Day School board. He also headed the investment subcommittee of the Meridian Health Group after years on the Riverview Medical Center Foundation. In addition, Dennis served on the Yale Advisory Committee and, because of his loyalty and generosity to the university, was named a Sterling Fellow. He also served as president of the Seabright Lawn Tennis Club where he was recently named an honorary member. A longstanding member of the Racquet and Tennis Club of N.Y., Dennis was also a member of the Seabright Beach Club and Rumson Country Club.
Dennis Lynch led an exemplary life. He was the quintessential Catholic gentleman and a decades-long parishioner of Holy Cross Church in Rumson. He “practiced what he preached,” saw the good in every person, and was the gentle, self-effacing one so many sought out for counsel; his patience, understanding and supportiveness were incomparable, as was his wit!
Dennis enjoyed the game of bridge and earned the ACBL rank of “regional master.” His taste in music was eclectic and he was everyone’s favorite dance partner, especially his wife’s.
Predeceased by his brother Thomas E. Lynch Jr., and sister Maureen Lynch, Dennis is survived by his loving wife Ann Marie, his devoted children Kathy L. Hale (Jon), Dennis P. Lynch Jr. (Marshall), William T. Lynch, and Nora A. Lynch, as well as by his brother Vincent. He also leaves his grandchildren, Ted and Nick Hale and Eleanor and Coley Lynch, nieces Perri Howard and Meghan Lynch, nephew Nick Lynch and several close cousins.
A Mass of Christian Burial and a celebration of Dennis’s life will be held in July. Donations in his name are suggested to the Sisters of Mercy of NJ, Red Bank Catholic H.S. and the SLTCC Landmark Preservation Friends.
Thompson Memorial Home is entrusted with the arrangements.
And now, our Dennis dances with the angels.
The article originally appeared in the April 22 – 28, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
