Family Tribute:A Fun Dad to Pal Around WithDaniel Maher had a full life, relatives said. But it was never about him.Triple bypass surgery three years ago was a rude awakening for him, said Maher’s wife, Kathy. But the thought of not being around for his family was all the motivation he needed to pay more attention to his health, she said. He started eating better - giving up his anything-chocolate desserts - for one. Her husband also launched into an exercise routine while waging a drawn-out battle to quit smoking. 'He was determined to be around for his family,' Kathy Maher said.A vice president / systems analyst for Marsh & McLennan, Maher treated the people he managed like family, his wife said. A 25-year veteran with Marsh, he was the kind of manager who willingly gave up raises so those under him wouldn’t miss out on one. 'It was never about power with him,' she said.Maher, 50, transferred from Marsh’s Sixth Avenue location in 1999 to offices on the 98th floor of Tower One at the World Trade Center. He was at work on Sept. 11.Maher was born in Flushing to Jeanne, who still lives there, and Raymond Maher. The third of four children - including Raymond, who lives in Vietnam, James of Manhattan and Jeanne Brandofino of Bellmore - he spent every minute he could sharing and taking part in the lives of his own two. Kathy, his wife of 25 years, said her husband was into just about everything their sons, Daniel Jr., 24, and Joseph, 21, were. He trotted them all over the place, including across the country, for their hockey and football games. When they took up hunting, he hunted, too, joining them on deer-hunting trips in the backwoods on the outskirts of their hometown of Hamilton, N.J. And when the boys took up golf, her husband joined in, too, she said. He was awful. 'He got worse the harder he tried, but it didn’t matter to him as long as it meant he could spend time with the boys.'Brandofino recalled her brother’s playful side. Maher captained a 50-foot house boat during a family vacation in Arizona. One of the highlights of the trip was when he took their mother tubing on Lake Powell, Brandofino recalled chuckling. 'He was whipping her around the lake at full throttle.'More than 17 years her senior, her brother always let her tag along, Brandofino said, even on dates. The one outing together that has stayed with her, however, was the first time he let her ride with him to the car wash. Just as the lathered-up car was being hosed down, he rolled the windows down on her. Her brother’s antics aside, Brandofino said, he was her protector, the go-to guy in the family.(c) 2002 Newsday, Inc. Reprinted with permission.www.newsday.com

I'd like the memory of me to be

   a happy one,

I'd like to leave an afterglow of

   smiles when day is done.

I'd like to leave an echo whispering

   softly down the ways,

Of happy times and laughing times

   and bright and sunny days.

I'd like the tears of those who

   grieve, to dry before the sun

Of happy memories that I leave

   behind when day is done.

Daniel Maher had a full life, relatives said. But it was never about him.

Triple bypass surgery three years ago was a rude awakening for him, said Maher’s wife, Kathy. But the thought of not being around for his family was all the motivation he needed to pay more attention to his health, she said. He started eating better - giving up his anything-chocolate desserts - for one. Her husband also launched into an exercise routine while waging a drawn-out battle to quit smoking. 'He was determined to be around for his family,' Kathy Maher said.

A vice president / systems analyst for Marsh & McLennan, Maher treated the people he managed like family, his wife said. A 25-year veteran with Marsh, he was the kind of manager who willingly gave up raises so those under him wouldn’t miss out on one. 'It was never about power with him,' she said.

Maher, 50, transferred from Marsh’s Sixth Avenue location in 1999 to offices on the 98th floor of Tower One at the World Trade Center. He was at work on Sept. 11.

Maher was born in Flushing to Jeanne, who still lives there, and Raymond Maher. The third of four children - including Raymond, who lives in Vietnam, James of Manhattan and Jeanne Brandofino of Bellmore - he spent every minute he could sharing and taking part in the lives of his own two. Kathy, his wife of 25 years, said her husband was into just about everything their sons, Daniel Jr., 24, and Joseph, 21, were.

He trotted them all over the place, including across the country, for their hockey and football games. When they took up hunting, he hunted, too, joining them on deer-hunting trips in the backwoods on the outskirts of their hometown of Hamilton, N.J.

And when the boys took up golf, her husband joined in, too, she said. He was awful. 'He got worse the harder he tried, but it didn’t matter to him as long as it meant he could spend time with the boys.'

Brandofino recalled her brother’s playful side. Maher captained a 50-foot house boat during a family vacation in Arizona. One of the highlights of the trip was when he took their mother tubing on Lake Powell, Brandofino recalled chuckling. 'He was whipping her around the lake at full throttle.'

More than 17 years her senior, her brother always let her tag along, Brandofino said, even on dates. The one outing together that has stayed with her, however, was the first time he let her ride with him to the car wash. Just as the lathered-up car was being hosed down, he rolled the windows down on her. Her brother’s antics aside, Brandofino said, he was her protector, the go-to guy in the family.

(c) 2002 Newsday, Inc. Reprinted with permission.www.newsday.com