Cunningham

Patrick “Pat” Michael Cunningham passed away Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022, at the Kona Hawaii Hospital at age 77 due to COVID-19 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 at Ellwood City Hospital, Ellwood City, 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 B.A. 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 Zelienople High School 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 U.S. Olympic Committee. He held a captain’s license for operation of marine vessels. He left Pennsylvania after college, coached football briefly in Ohio, then moved out West to Colorado, where he taught and coached football in Denver and then in Steamboat Springs, Colo.

Pat was also gifted artistically and mechanically, and he worked in the construction industry, building beautiful log homes in Steamboat Springs, Colo., Whitefish, Mont., and Sun Valley, Idaho. He later worked as a contractor in Steamboat and then Hawaii, where he completed projects for a local developer. He had several small charter fishing boats in Kailua-Kona and operated a boat yard at the Kailua-Kona Harbor, where he conducted extensive renovations 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, Calif., and William Cunningham of Millstadt, Ill.; and a lifetime of close friends and inspired youth wherever he spent any time.

CUNNINGHAM — Services will be held privately by the family for Patrick “Pat” Michael Cunningham who died Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022.

Arrangements were handled by BOYLAN FUNERAL HOME, Zelienople.

To leave expressions of sympathy for the family, please visit www.boylanfuneralservices.com.

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