Patrick Michael Cunningham's Obituary
Patrick Michael Cunningham passed away Monday at the Kona Community Hospital in Kealakekua, HI at age 77 due to COVID combined with an underlying illness. Pat was a real force of nature! To know him was to love, admire, and respect him. He was born November 6th, 1944 at Ellwood City Hospital, Ellwood, PA., the only son of Robert J. and Louella Cunningham (Varner). Pat was a gifted teacher and coach who gave it his all and expected the best in return. He was an amazing athlete in his own right. He attended Zelienople High School and earned his BA in Education at Slippery Rock College, followed later by a master’s and additional post-graduate studies. Pat was a highly regarded member of both the ZHS and the Slippery Rock football teams. He had a lifelong passion for fishing, boating, hunting, skiing, and speed skating. He skated with the Olympic speed skating team and worked with the US Olympic Committee. He held a Captain’s license for the operation of marine vessels. He left PA after college, coached football briefly in Ohio, then moved West to Colorado, where he taught and coached football in Denver and then in Steamboat Springs. Pat was also gifted artistically and mechanically, and he worked in the construction industry, building beautiful log homes in Steamboat, Whitefish, MT, and Sun Valley, ID. He later worked as a contractor in Steamboat and then in Hawaii for a local developer. He had several small charter fishing boats in Kailua Kona and operated a boatyard at the Kailua Kona Harbor, where he conducted extensive renovation of the harbor facilities. He founded and operated the Kona Community Cultural and Education Foundation, where he instituted a program providing local kids with an opportunity to participate in on-the-water marine biology programs until his death. Pat is survived by one son, Matthew, also of Kona. His youngest son Josh passed away previously. Pat leaves two surviving cousins, Robert Cunningham, of Grass Valley, CA; and William Cunningham, of Millstadt, IL, and a lifetime of close friends wherever he spent any time.
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