Nancy Meade dies at 99, was longtime Great Neck community leader

Nancy Meade, who grew up on a Kings Point estate as the daughter of a caretaker and became an influential community leader in Great Neck as the wife of a judge and town supervisor, has died at age 99.

She died June 22 of complications from a stroke, her son Robert C. Meade Jr. of Great Neck said.

Meade, who lived nearly a century in Great Neck, was married for almost 52 years to former State Supreme Court Justice and North Hempstead Supervisor Robert C. Meade, who died in 1996.

The daughter of Irish immigrants, the former Nancy King grew up for several years on the Hazelmere estate in Kings Point, where her father worked as a groundskeeper and the family lived in a cottage connected to the garage. She graduated from Great Neck North High School.

Her family eventually moved to Arrandale Avenue, where her husband also was reared, and where the couple would find a home and raise their children.

Judge Robert C. Meade was a top Republican in Nassau County, serving in the county attorney’s office, before becoming town attorney for North Hempstead, then town supervisor, and later a Supreme Court Justice. One of his key acts was to issue New York State’s first living will decision.

Nancy Meade, as the wife of a politician, was comfortable and a welcoming force in the world of campaigns and fundraisers. Her husband credited her support for sustaining his long public career, their son said.

Robert Meade often said that “she would have been a better politician herself than he was’’ because she had a natural ability, their son said. “If she met somebody, that might be someone who was a voter for her husband, but it might be a friend. That was her attitude.”

Outside of politics, she and her husband attended daily services at St. Aloysius Church in Great Neck, where Nancy worked as a lector and sewed vestments. She served as a board member for the Open Door Parent-Child Caring Center in Great Neck for nearly 25 years, where she raised funds for the organization, and she was a recording secretary for the Visiting Nurse Association for 41 years, and a member of the Woman’s Club of Great Neck for 50 years.

She enjoyed rug hooking, swimming at the Parkwood Pool Complex and ice skating. She enjoyed fishing well into her 80s, her son said.

She is also survived by daughter Mary Jo Weinig of Manhattan; sons Brian of Braintree, Massachusetts, Philip of Port Washington, Stephen of Glen Cove, and Dennis of Glen Head; two siblings, Joan Gardner of Plainview and Thomas King of Northport; and four grandchildren.

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A funeral Mass was celebrated at St. Aloysius Church and burial was at Cemetery of the Holy Rood in Westbury.

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.