Bernard Byrne Obituary

Byrne

Bernard Michael Byrne

Bernard Michael Byrne of Vienna, Virginia, peacefully passed away surrounded by loving family on November 13, 2023.



He was born in Kingston, New York, on November 25, 1935 to Lawrence Joseph and Anne Patricia (Gibbons) Byrne of Ruby, New York, in the Hudson River Valley. He went to work at age six with his father and grandfather in the family's stone quarry. He graduated from St. Bonaventure University with a degree in Philosophy and, many years later, a Masters in Philosophy at Georgetown University.



After a tour in the Army, Bernie moved to Northern Virginia and began his career in the Federal Government where he participated in the construction of Dulles Airport and later took a leadership role in the Navy's transition to the digital age where he headed the implementation of the Navy Civilian Personnel Data System. He was recognized with the Department of the Navy's Superior Civilian Service Award for his personal integrity, leadership, and many accomplishments as the project manager responsible for the Navy's first digital personnel system.



A devout Catholic, Bernie was a member of the NOVA Catholic Community not long after its inception and St. Mark's Catholic Church for the last 40 years. Bernie and his wife Julie were very active in civil rights during the 1960s until threats to his family forced him to take a more nuanced and personal approach. This included helping poor families in Fairfax County get relief from ever higher property taxes that developers were taking advantage of in tax sales.



Bernie also participated in many causes and organizations including Habitat for Humanity and the Reston Bike Club with which he often biked in the Florida Keys and in Europe.



He grew Christmas trees with his brothers-in-law, Peter and Charles Conrad, on the family farm in Southern Maryland, and later grew grapes with the next two generations. This included the opening of Port of Leonardtown Winery with the Southern Maryland Wine Growers Cooperative in 2010 and Corteau Vineyards in 2022.



Until he came down with vertigo in his 50s, the great joy in his life could be seen in his ice skating. Seeing this large man skating with such finesse on frozen ponds, canals, reflecting pools, quarries and swamps around Virginia and New York always astounded his children and those who thought they knew him. Nobody could keep up with those ancient leather hockey skates. Later that joy was in time spent with his grandchildren. You can see some of that joy in the wit and wisdom he has imparted in all of them.



Bernie is preceded in death by his parents, his brother, Lawrence Joseph, Jr., and his wife, Julia Ann Conrad. He is survived by his sister-in-law, Alice Stamp Byrne, brother-in-law, Charles Conrad, children, Peter (Lyrel), Kathleen (Randy), Michael, and Gerald (Connie), and nine grandchildren, Kayleigh, Samantha, Erin, Allison, James, Charles, Thomas, Julia, and Jack.



The family is hosting remembrance events at Bernie's home in Vienna on Saturday 2 to 5 p.m. and at his family's winery in Mechanicsville, Maryland, Corteau Vineyards, on Sunday 3 to 5 p.m.



A future memorial service at St. Mark's Catholic Church in Oakton, Virginia is expected, but the burial on the family farm will be in a year or more, as Bernie donated his body to science.