G. Eugene Dacey

Watertown – Mr. G. Eugene Dacey, of Watertown, died peacefully in his home on Thursday, May 3, 2018 with his wife of 58 years by his side. He was 89.

Gene was born in Budapest, Hungary on July 19, 1928, the son of the late Sándor and Erzsébet (Kömives) Dakó. In early World War II , Gene lost his only brother, Sándor, who was killed in action in Ukraine. As WWII ended, Gene, still a young teen, found himself alone in Germany among other Hungarian refuges fearing the new Soviet control. Gene was one of the 200,000 homeless victims displaced by the war who were welcomed into the United States thanks to the 1948 Displaced Persons Act. Grateful for the opportunity, Gene later interrupted his studies to serve in the US Army during the Korean War.

Once in the US, Gene graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University with a degree in Government. Ultimately he earned his Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School, Class of 1955. It was in Cambridge when he met and married a young research associate from the Philippines who was working at the Dana Farber Institute, Teresita Gella Azurin. They began their young family in the Porter Square neighborhood of North Cambridge, and eventually settled in Watertown where they raised their two children. At 70, Gene wrapped up his professional career as a patent attorney by retiring as a partner at Altman, Dacey & Benson. But Gene never fully retired. Instead he took over control of his stock portfolio and kept up with the market.

Gene loved meeting new people and thrived while mingling. No longer bound to the traditional workweek, Gene and Terry intensified the social and active phase of their life partnership: Summers on the Cape, winter weeks in New Hampshire, weekly aerobics, dancing with the Square Riggers Club, attending events with the Hungarian Society, the German-American Club and the many spring commencement activities at Harvard. Gene and Terry never missed a HLS reunion.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Teresita Azurin Dacey of Watertown; his children, Glenn Dacey and his wife, Deena, of Rockledge, Florida, Elizabeth 'Beth' Dacey-Fondelius and her husband, Johan Fondelius, of Stockholm, Sweden and; his grandchildren, Connor and Tyler Dacey and Alexander and Kimber Fondelius.

Family and friends will honor and remember Eugene's life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20), Waltham on Wednesday, May 16th from 5 to 8 p.m. and again at 8 a.m. on Thursday morning before leaving in procession to St. Luke's Church, 132 Lexington St., Belmont where his Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 9 a.m. Burial will follow in St. Patrick's Cemetery.