Father Robert D. Tracy, O. Carm.

Father Robert D. Tracy, O. Carm., who was a pastor in Manhattan and in Middletown, died Jan. 21 at Phelps Memorial Hospital, Sleepy Hollow. He was 70, and resided at Transfiguration Priory, Tarrytown. Father Tracy also served in several assignments as a hospital chaplain and as a teacher. He was pastor of Our Lady of the Scapular-St. Stephen’s parish, Manhattan, 1988-1990, and of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Middletown, 1985-1988. He began his chaplaincy career as chief chaplain at the Middletown Psychiatric Center, 1971-1979. His other chaplaincy posts in the archdiocese were at Bellevue Hospital, Manhattan, 1981-1982; the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Beacon, 1984-1985, and again from 1990 until his retirement in 2005, with simultaneous service at the veterans hospital in Montrose. He was a teacher in the archdiocese at John S. Burke Catholic High School, Goshen, 1970-1971, and served at the following parishes: Transfiguration in Tarrytown, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Middletown, and St. Simon Stock, the Bronx. Born in the Bronx, he entered the Carmelites in 1955 and professed first vows in 1956. He earned a bachelor’s degree at St. Bonaventure University, Olean, and completed his theological studies in Washington, D.C., where he was ordained in 1963. Later he earned a master’s in pastoral counseling at Iona College, New Rochelle. He is survived by three sisters, Dolores Andreala, Jane Frisenda and Ann Buckley, and a brother, Michael. Father Michael Kissane, O.Carm., prior provincial of the St. Elias Province of Carmelites, offered the Funeral Mass Jan. 28 at Transfiguration Church, Tarrytown, with burial in the Carmelite Cemetery in Middletown.