Lisa Ann Byrne, 58, passed away peacefully June 12, 2021, at her home in New York City after a year-and-a-half-long battle with cancer. Lisa was born in Red Bank and grew up in Lincroft. She graduated from Middletown High School South in 1980 and Mary Baldwin College in Virginia in 1984, where she played on both schools’ tennis teams. Lisa worked as a videotape editor for 18 years, first at Lee Rothberg Productions, then at MTI Editing until 2002. For the remainder of her life, she was a beloved dog walker and a neighborhood fixture on the Upper West Side.
Lisa had a genuinely special connection with each of her dogs – and their owners loved her, too! She had a die-hard competitive streak, which served her well playing softball in the Women’s Showtime League in Central Park for many years, and also as a member of the American Poolplayers Association, playing in pool leagues at the Raccoon Lodge and later The Parlour in New York City.
She was also passionate about social justice, a fierce advocate for racial and gender equity, LGBTQ+ rights, those in need, and the truth.
Among her many joys in life were spending summer days from morning till dinner at the beach on Long Island or the Jersey Shore, her one-time sidekick and Basset Hound Bessie, firepits, watching a Yankee game, attending the U.S. Open, a beer and a burger at Ken’s Broome Street Bar, and listening to Neil Young.
Lisa is survived by her partner and soulmate Elizabeth “Libby” Conley; her parents, Joan and Kevin “Buz” Byrne of Middletown; her sister and brother-in-law, Judy and Barry McCabe of Navesink; her brother Michael Byrne of Winter Haven, Florida; beloved nephews, Liam and Kerry McCabe; treasured nieces, Sabrina and Kyra Byrne; many close cousins and a vast array of friends from every walk of life, all of whom loved her dearly and will miss her beautiful smile, her infectious laugh, her gregarious spirit, and that huge heart that somehow fit into her tiny frame.
A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. July 22 at The Church of the Nativity in Fair Haven. Live streaming will be available at nativitychurchnj.org. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to a Riverside Park Conservancy fund established to “adopt” a park bench in Lisa’s memory. Riverside Park was her favorite spot in the city for playing tennis, walking her dogs, meeting up with friends and watching sunsets over the Hudson River. Donations may be mailed to: Riverside Park Conservancy, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 455, New York, NY 10115. Make checks payable to Riverside Park Conservancy with “Lisa Byrne” written on the memo line. Corporate matching gifts are welcome. Donations can also be made online at riversideparknyc.org/donations/#adopt-a-bench (click “donation” and “in memory of” Lisa Byrne) or gofundme.com/f/lisa-byrne-riverside-park-bench.
The article originally appeared in the July 8 – 14, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
