Dem official Patricia Cronin, 83, dies

Patricia Mary Cronin, a former Democratic state committeewoman from North Hempstead and an interior designer with a flair for elegance, died Wednesday of complications from a neurological degenerative condition. She was 83.

She was born Patricia Mary Egan on June 4, 1928, in Astoria, Queens. Cronin attended St. John's University in Queens, where she majored in social studies, graduating in 1950.

It was there that she met her husband of 61 years, Matthew Cronin.

Their daughter, Valerie Wiblishauser of Dix Hills, said the couple's partnership was an inspiration.

"They so enjoyed each other's company," Wiblishauser said. "They never sat at a dinner table and did not talk. It was an amazing marriage."

The Cronins -- known to family and friends as "Pat and Matt" -- lived in Plandome Manor for more than five decades.

Both Patricia Cronin and her husband were heavily involved in Democratic politics, Wiblishauser said.

A telegram from Robert Kennedy about his campaign for president hangs in the family's den, and Cronin and her husband were present when Marilyn Monroe famously sang "Happy Birthday" to President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden in 1962.

"She took great pride in how involved in politics" she was, Wiblishauser said.

Cronin also attended the New York School of Interior Design, after which she ran her own interior design firm.

Wiblishauser, who was her mother's business partner in the firm for 17 years, said Cronin brought her unique brand of understated elegance to her design work.

In her later years, Cronin enjoyed traveling, dining in Manhattan restaurants with her husband and having fun with her 10 grandchildren.

"She wasn't the typical grandmother," Wiblishauser said. "She was a with-it-and-driving-a-Corvette grandmother."

In addition to her husband, daughter and grandchildren, Cronin is survived by two other daughters: Lynn Cronin of Manhattan and Maureen Harris of Manhasset; a son, Brad Cronin of Manhasset; and a sister, Marjorie Wenderoth of Miller Place.

Services for Cronin were Saturday. Cronin was buried at the Cemetery of the Holy Rood in Westbury.