Michael O'Keeffe

Madison - Michael A. O'Keeffe, 80, of Madison, passed away peacefully on July 22, 2018 at his home in Madison. Michael was born on January 9, 1938 in Boston, Massachusetts to Bernard O'Keeffe and Grace O'Keeffe. He married Emlen Jones and was happily married to her for more than fifty years.

Michael grew up in Newton, Massachusetts and attended the Roxbury Latin School. At Roxbury Latin, he played numerous sports and enjoyed sailing most of all. Along with his high school team, Michael won the national championship in the Raven Class. He went on to Dartmouth College and graduated with a B.A. At Dartmouth, he was a member of the boxing team and the ROTC program. Upon graduation, Michael was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army. He received training in Hawk missile systems at Fort Bliss, Texas and was stationed in Wurzburg, West Germany. He married the love of his life, Emlen Jones, in Wurzburg in 1962. Michael was on active duty during the Cuban Missile Crisis and viewed the successful conclusion of that episode as a miracle of history. After completing his service, Michael studied at the American Institute for Foreign Trade in Arizona (Thunderbird) and graduated with an MBA. He then worked for the Department of Defense, specifically the Defense Intelligence Agency. At the age of 28, the DIA sent him to the U.S. Canal Zone in Panama. He was fluent in Spanish and used his linguistic and cultural expertise very effectively. In later years, Michael was the Operations Manager for a commercial vegetable operation in Culiacan, Mexico and a cattle ranch/sod farm in Florida. He and his family lived in Mazatlan, Mexico and Englewood, Florida during these periods. He never truly retired but in later years, Michael worked for the Wisconsin Air National Guard and also as an instructor in the MBA program at Edgewood College. His specialty was assisting international students and he greatly enjoyed this work. He was a natural teacher. He had a lifelong love of swimming that began in childhood with ocean swims in the Atlantic Ocean and Nantucket Sound. Michael enjoyed ocean swimming with his sons in the Atlantic as well as the Gulf of Mexico. He was very dedicated to his swimming program and competed in the Wisconsin Senior Olympics well into his 70s. He was a devoted father and loved his family. He had a wide circle of loyal and good friends in all the areas where he lived. Known as a great storyteller, he derived much enjoyment from sitting with friends and family around the table and swapping tales.

He is survived by his sons, Michael K. O'Keeffe (MN), and Gerald W. O'Keeffe (IL); five grandchildren, Levente (MN), Grace (IL), Michael E. (IL), Aidan (IL), and Liliana (MN); sister, Kathleen Capo (MA); brother, William O'Keeffe (MA).

A funeral service will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 27, 2018 at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 1833 Regent Street, Madison, Wisconsin.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the National Kidney Foundation, Finance Department, 30 East 33rd St., New York, NY 10016 or www.kidney.org/donate.


Cress Funeral & Cremation Service
3610 Speedway Road, Madison
608-238-3434