Richard Frederick Mereday, longtime GOP leader in Roosevelt, dies at 93

Richard Frederick Mereday, a longtime Republican leader from Roosevelt who in 1965 became the first Black man appointed to the executive committee of a major county political party on Long Island, died on Jan. 7 after a brief illness. He was 93.

Mereday, more recently of upstate Olean, was born on Dec. 18, 1929, in Hempstead, the only child of Charles and Meta Evelyn Mereday.

Charles Mereday, one of the first Black men to become active in the Nassau GOP, had moved to Hempstead in 1926 from Hamburg, South Carolina. In 1934, Charles Mereday started a trucking company, hauling feed and hay for Nassau County farmers, that his family would run for 50 years.

The family moved to Roosevelt in 1940. Six years later, Richard F. Mereday graduated from Hempstead High School. The following year, he joined the U.S. Navy Reserve while a student at Hofstra University, from which he graduated in 1951.

Mereday was on active military duty during the Korean War, serving as a medical corpsman from 1951 to 1953. He graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 1959. While a student there, he met and married Emma Waters, with whom he had three children. They later divorced.

On the cusp of social change in the 1960s, Mereday worked to create jobs for young people and minorities in Roosevelt, often criticizing the urbanization of the community.

In a 1963 Newsday letter to the editor, Mereday wrote: "The Roosevelt Republican organization has been a leader in creating many job and educational opportunities for all the inhabitants of this community. As such, these programs are nothing new, and they were developed to ensure constructive effectiveness in the locality. This approach by the Republican organization is an indication of meaningful political responsibility."

"It was a time of tremendous change," his son Richard C. Mereday, 61, of Albany, a retired legislative director for the New York State Senate, told Newsday.

"A lot of the things he did changed the community for the better," Richard C. Mereday said. "He wanted Roosevelt to be a productive and responsible model community."

In 1965, Richard F. Mereday, then a supervisor in the Nassau County Probation Department, was elected to the 94-person executive committee of the Nassau County GOP with the backing of then-State Sen. Edward J. Speno (R-East Meadow). Mereday served as a committeeman for 11 years.

In the 1970s and 80s, Richard F. Mereday served as director of career development for Nassau County and as executive director of the Elmont Cooperative Center. He also was vice president of Charles Mereday Trucking Inc.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, whose late father, Robert Blakeman, was a Republican member of the state Assembly, called the Meredays "an important political family."

Blakeman told Newsday he remembered meeting Richard F. Mereday, and recalled his parents having lunch with the members of the Mereday family and baseball legend Jackie Robinson.

Former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato told Newsday he met Richard F. Mereday when D'Amato was Hempstead Town supervisor, "and it became obvious to me he would be great community leader."

"Richard was a wonderful, caring person," said D'Amato, a Republican. "He loved his community, and was committed to giving people of color an opportunity to be judged on their ability. He will be missed."

In addition to his son Richard, Mereday is survived by his wife, Nancy Milligan of Olean; son Phillip of Newark, New Jersey; daughter Meta Jocelyn of Baldwin; and three stepchildren.

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.