[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15018]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO MR. BRENDAN BERNARD FRANCIS McKAY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ZOE LOFGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 17, 2014

  Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, it is with a very heavy heart that I share 
this obituary of an outstanding young American, Mr. Brendan Bernard 
Francis McKay.
  Brendan, 30, passed away Monday, September 8, 2014, in Rome, Italy, 
following a tragic accident.
  An AmeriCorps volunteer, artist, multi-instrumentalist, snowboarder, 
world traveler, counselor, historian, Ph.D. candidate, and Seanchai in 
the Irish storytelling tradition, Brendan was born June 30, 1984 in 
Summit, New Jersey, the second of Bernard and Mazy McKay's four 
children. He grew up in Alexandria and McLean, Virginia, where he 
graduated from McLean High School in 2002.
  Brendan began undergraduate studies at Virginia Commonwealth 
University, later attended Western Connecticut State University and 
John Cabot University in Rome, and in 2012 graduated magna cum laude 
from Rhode Island College with a Bachelor's in History. Most recently, 
Brendan completed his Master's degree in International Relations at St. 
John's University in Rome, Italy in June 2014.
  Throughout his teens and early twenties, Brendan struggled with 
addiction issues. With the support of loved ones, he participated in 
therapeutic and rehabilitation programs in Utah, New York, 
Pennsylvania, Florida, and Kansas. In 2008, Brendan emerged from this 
period secure in his recovery, and with a renewed passion for 
education, adventure, and experience which would come to define the 
rest of his life.
  From 2008-2010, Brendan served with AmeriCorps as a volunteer with 
Big Brothers, Big Sisters in Worland, Wyoming. Within a matter of 
months he was promoted to Vice President of Development, going on to 
raise hundreds of thousands of dollars on behalf of at-risk youth, 
before leaving to accept a position as an AmeriCorps Program Manager in 
Rhode Island. Before leaving Wyoming he was urged by locals in Worland 
to stay and run for mayor. He was flattered and seriously considered 
it.
  Brendan is remembered fondly by his loved ones in the U.S. and around 
the world for his legendary sense of humor, a classic Irish storyteller 
vividly sharing his many adventures. He ran with the bulls in Pamplona, 
Spain. He rode a hot air balloon through the Atlas Mountains of 
Morocco. He skied across the Swiss-French border in the Alps, not 
entirely on purpose. Completing an Asian journey that included 
Malaysia, Cambodia and Nepal, he returned to Rome over the Himalayas 
and Mt. Everest. He crisscrossed the United States by car, camped in 
the badlands of North Dakota, and lived on a mountain in Southern 
California. During academic travel to North Korea he became one of only 
a small number of Americans to have seen the demilitarized zone from 
the north side.
  Brendan was also intellectually brilliant. He was an enthusiastic 
reader, with particular interest in philosophy, history, physics, and 
comparative religion. His collection of unusual tattoos included the 
Fibonacci sequence on his arm. His creativity and humor led to unique 
inventions; on one occasion, Brendan created what he called a 
``Scrabbanjelo,'' a playable banjo which he constructed from the wooden 
box of a Scrabble set--a game at which he was renowned as unbeatable.
  At the time of his passing, he was looking forward to his doctoral 
work at King's College in London. His studies were to focus on the 
little-told story of the town of Fiumi on the Italy-Croatia border, 
which formed its own independent state in World War I in defiance of 
the warring countries around it.
  Brendan's 6'6" physical presence was the outer manifestation of an 
unusually humble, sensitive, self-deprecating person, whose generosity, 
kindness, and compassion for friends and family alike will never be 
forgotten. His beloved dog, Anastasia, is the physical embodiment of 
that kindness. Brendan had encountered a group of drug dealers about to 
shoot a young puppy for which they had no use. He persuaded them to let 
him adopt her in exchange for what little money he had in his pocket, a 
meager five dollars. For more than a decade, Anastasia has been a 
cherished member of the McKay family, displaying a level of emotional 
intelligence that is extraordinary to find in an animal.
  Brendan was not immune to accidents, and indeed had scars going back 
to toddlerhood. But he always stood up, brushed himself off, and went 
at life again, charging boldly at every experience the world could 
offer. His enthusiasm for adventure inspired all who knew him.
  Brendan is survived by his parents, Bernard and Mary, his two 
brothers, Patrick and Conor, his sister, Rosemary, sister-in-law Nora, 
and his beloved, Camilla Valeriano. He will be sorely missed.

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