Dr. Frederic Laurence Gannon, “Ted” 86, of New York City and Shelter Island, died at his home in New York City on January 5, 2021.  

A proud lifelong New Yorker, he was a graduate of Bishop Laughlin Memorial High School, Boston College, and Georgetown University School of Medicine.  After medical school, Ted served as a Captain in the United States Army and was stationed in Fort Bliss, Texas.

 He practiced psychiatry in New York for over 40 years, and he was associated with several institutions throughout his career, including Long Island College Hospital, SUNY Downstate Medical Center and University Hospital, St. Vincent’s Hospital, and St. Luke’s – Roosevelt Hospital.  While at LICH, Ted served as the Medical Director of the Alcoholism Treatment Program.  

In addition to his commitment to  New York City, Ted left an indelible mark on the community of Shelter Island, New York.  Ted and his wife, Anna, put down roots on the island in the late 1960s, and he has been a man about town there ever since.  His lifelong support of the arts found a home at his beloved Perlman Music Program, and his appreciation of the natural world led him to the Mashomack Preserve—both Shelter Island institutions. 

Ted was also a remarkable conversationalist and better listener.  All who spoke to him – from his children’s high school friends to his own friends in retirement felt that he was genuinely interested in their lives and what they said.  He displayed a constant thirst for knowledge and education, which he passed down to and encouraged in his children and grandchildren.  A lover of literature and poetry, he shared his passion with everyone he met, but particularly with his many friends from the Institute for Retired Professionals.  He was a student of the Institute for over ten years and took great pride in his studies.  

 Patriarch of a sprawling family, he is survived by his four children Anna Gannon, Lisa Gannon, Andrea Gannon Brereton and Ted Gannon and their spouses, nine grandchildren, two sisters, Margaret Lee and Priscilla, and 14 nieces and nephews.  He is also survived by countless friends from all different parts of his life, including medical school, the Institute for Retired Professionals, and friends of his children who became his friends too.  He is preceded in death by his wife, Dr. Anna Mascolo, M.D., son, Jude Gannon, and brother, David Gannon.  

His presence in the lives of those who knew him will be impossible to fill.  He will be greatly missed by all.

 A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, January 8, 2021, at 10 a.m. at St. Ignatius Loyola R.C. Church.  Interment will be at a later date at Our Lady of the Isle Cemetery, Shelter Island.  Charitable donations may be made to Doctors Without Borders and CurePSP, a foundation dedicated to curing degenerative brain diseases, one of which took Ted’s beloved wife.