John C. Dunphy Private Foundation, Inc.

John C. Dunphy was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 19, 1928, the eldest son of John Charles Dunphy and Bernadette Cummins Dunphy. John attended PS 198 and Alexander Hamilton High School in Brooklyn, and as a youth, he liked to play football, stickball, and sandlot baseball in Brooklyn. A dog was his constant companion.

To earn money, he tended to the flowers in the local cemetery or helped the local vegetable peddler selling his produce on weekends. John enlisted in the US Navy in 1948 and was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Cabot. Given his expertise, the US Army later called upon him to work on military projects. He was stationed in Fort Dix, New Jersey where he served from 1954 to 1958 and then honorably discharged. 

Upon leaving the Military, he settled in Huntington, New York and started his career in the electrical field. In 1960, he bought WT Hickey, an electrical company, in Huntington Station, New York.  As his business grew, he relocated to the present location on Dawson Street which had previously served as a church. Upon renovating the building, the church bell was salvaged and he donated it to the parishioners.  He served as President of WT Hickey until he retired. 

John loved to travel and visited many foreign countries, but his passion was spending time in the Adirondacks where he often piloted his own plane to enjoy hiking, camping and fly-fishing. John was known for his quick wit and his kind and compassionate spirit. He was a serious and disciplined man, but he could never resist the opportunity to have a laugh with friends and loved ones, given half the chance.