Tributes

Daniel (Danny) Jay Garrett passed away on Monday, May 11th 2026 at 74 years of age after a courageous battle with metastatic liver cancer. Danny was born (January 31, 1952) and raised in Long Island, NY to parents Charles (Charlie) and Ruth (Ruthie) Garrett (n. Kleinkopf). He graduated from Plainedge High School in 1970, a member of their Madrigal and school choirs. Danny dipped his toe into a number of colleges (including Emerson, where he played on the baseball team) and fields of employment but never took them as seriously as he took the individuals he encountered in each of those settings. Those individuals will remember Danny’s wry sense of humor that never faded, even as his health declined. He once said that he took it as his personal mission to make his chemo nurses laugh as often as possible, since they probably didn’t get to do it much in their line of work. He could always be counted on for on-the-spot song parodies, often to the tune “Strangers in the Night” or late favorite, “Sittin’ on the Side of the Bed” (to the tune of “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay”) which he could often be heard singing to his physical therapists at the hospital. Danny was a lifelong fan of sports, especially the Brooklyn (and then Los Angeles) Dodgers. He loved old movies and tv shows, many genres of music, and was especially enamored with the brilliant and hilarious compositions of Alan Sherman and his favorite band Steely Dan. He was a fine tennis player and a better guitarist than he admitted. He often brought up fond memories of his college band, Extra Cheese, and likewise cherished memories from his time at Camp Wildwood in Maine. Besides New York, Danny spent time living in Phoenix, San Diego, Tulsa, and finally in Philadelphia. He was never as happy, however, as the years he spent with his second wife Maridell (nee Faeber, 1952-2014) and their dog Leon. He is survived by his older brother Michael (wife Sandy), older sister Judy Rosenzweig (husband Roy), daughters Allison (fiancé Robert) and Alexis Verrelli (husband Dennis), and step daughter M.E. Combs (husband Alvin) as well as her children Ava and Renner. No doubt Danny is up there somewhere and, channeling Alan Sherman, is “trampling in the warehouse where the drapes of Roth are stored.” May his memory be a blessing—and hopefully make you laugh once in a while.

Tributes

Daniel "Danny" Jay Garrett

January 31, 1952 - May 11, 2026