Long Time Roosevelt Island Fixture Tony Moran Passed Away May 28 At Age Of 71

Tony Moran was a long time Roosevelt Island resident. I did not know him well other than to say hello and express pleasantries when we saw each other on Main Street. I learned from Matt Katz that Tony Moran recently passed away. According to Mr Katz:

Tony Moran has died.  Did you know?  He was a long time fixture of the Island, especially of the disabled community.  Can you do an obit in the Islander?  

I asked several Roosevelt Island residents who knew Tony if they could share some thoughts.

RIVAA Gallery’s Esther Cohen shares a personal history from Tony’s sister, a few of her own words about Tony’s time with RIVAA Gallery and some photos:

Anthony Vincent Moran

Tony was born on June 11, 1953 in Forest Hills, New York. 

His parents were Joan Shirley Moran who was born in England, and Vincent Ross Moran who was born in Canada. Tony’s sister is Vinca Moran Pessarakli who is two years younger than Tony and lives in Tucson Arizona. 

Tony grew up with his family in Glen Cove, NY and took art lessons from a neighbor during his high school years. Also during his youth he was an altar-boy at Saint John’s of Lattingtown Church in Locust Valley, NY.  After his graduation from Glen Cove High school in 1971 Tony attended a year or two at the New York Institute of Technology. Much later after having several odd jobs not related to art or media, Tony related on Facebook that he worked for media services at Morgan Stanley and media services at CS first Boston. Tony celebrated his attendance at the original Woodstock Music Festival and was an avid follower of Alan Watts. 

When Tony joined the Roosevelt Island Visual Art Assoc in 2002 he had previously suffered a stroke and was wheelchair bound, was painting at the time, maintained and kept a large music archive, loved jazz and was computer savvy. He went on to creating watercolor photos with themes centered around musicians he admired, music events, architectural scenes and spiritual and contemplative moments, which were loved by many people who came to the Gallery over the years.

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Despite his physical and speech limitations, he was a fighter, remained positive, a communicator, and fiercely loved his freedom, independence, RIVAA Gallery and many friends. 

Tony passed away on May 28th, 2025 and was still posting to Facebook soon before. He will be missed.

Former Roosevelt Island Daily publisher David Stone reports:

Tony and I were good friends. He was also close with my wife. Tony was a bigger than life character who got physically mangled by a major stroke when he was still flying high in middle age. He was as determined as anyone I ever know to get back to the life he had before the stroke. He loved women, music, art and travel in that order. He worked his butt off through physical therapy to the point where he was able to get out of his wheelchair and walk a little ways. It was a huge victory. Then, sadly, he was struck by a car and lost all he’d gained.

His artwork started before his stroke, and he took into surprsing new areas, always original, always creative. I covered his pictures many times in the paper.

Later on, as his health deteriorated, his very devoted friends stepped in to help him out. His apartment got into such an ugly mess of disrepair (In Eastwood) that Esther Piaskowski Cohen, who’d do anything for him, went in a took a series of graphic photos. She gave them to me, and they became the centerpiece of an article I wrote, using a false name for him. Within days, Eastwood fixed the place up like new.

In the last couple of years, he finally went into managed care in Manhattan when his closest friend pursuaded him he could no longer take care of himself. She discouraged us from visiting him because she thought it would only make him want to come back. Over all those years, he never stopped tagging me on photo, and most recently, he sent me links to YouTube videos with live jazz performers. 

He never gave up. That’s why I thought he was the bravest man I ever knew. He faced enormous obstacles, but he never stopped trying. He was always positive. We will miss him, and I hope I learned something from him.

Tony before the stroke (upper right).

Gallery RIVAA’s Tony Vita adds:

I am so saddened by the passing of Anthony Moran. Tony was given a very tough hand to play, but he persevered and thrived with courage and an open heart.

A fellow artist and music lover, we often sat behind the the Good Shepherd chapel and talked about music. It usually went along these lines. Tony would say, “I know you know this guy,” and after an hour or so of me trying to guess who the artist was, I’d finally get it, and Tony would say, “That’s it, He’s great.

Tony never let his disability get in the way of his creativity and continued making art. A lot of folks may not know this, but he also wrote some beautiful poetry. He was one of a kind, and I will miss my friend.

Mr Katz shares a memory:

I mentioned to Tony that I knew a folk singer from the 60s, David Bromberg, when he was a student at Columbia and rooming with an old high school buddy of mine.  We played some guitar together then, but I lost track of him before his 60-year career in performing started.  Tony mentioned that he had a CD, “The Best of Dave Bromberg,” and he was kind enough to burn me a copy.  There were songs I hadn’t heard in years and one of them, “You’ve Gotta Suffer if You Want to Sing the Blues” tickled me and became part of my repertoire.  And whenever I perform it I include a “thank you” to Tony Moran, who made it possible.  Rest in peace, Tony.

Condolences to the family and friends of Tony Moran. May he rest in peace.