James Garvey, 70, Former Hofstra Athletic Director

Former Hofstra University Athletic Director James Garvey passed away on Feb. 5, 2013 at the age of 70 while awaiting a heart transplant.

Garvey was raised in Mineola, graduating from Adelphi University in 1964. He served as director of athletics at Hofstra from 1987 until his retirement in 1997. Under his watch, Hofstra Athletics experienced a tremendous growth period that saw women's soccer (1992) added as an intercollegiate sport and the move from Division I Independent status into the North Atlantic Conference in 1994.

Garvey was a three-sport NCAA official who worked four football bowl games, five men's basketball tournaments and seven men's lacrosse championships, including the inaugural NCAA title game in 1971. He also developed a “wide triangle” style of lacrosse officiating that is still employed in the sport today. He was elected to the Long Island Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1993 and the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2001.

He is survived by his wife Gwenae, daughter Kristen Garvey of Huntington; two other stepchildren, Robert Davy of Lexington, Mass., and Lauren Davy of Summit, N.J.; sister Barbara Lanzone of California; and four grandchildren.

The family has established the James V. Garvey Memorial Scholarship to help student-athletes in Hofstra's lacrosse program. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Hofstra University athletic department.