Obituary of John Peter Daly

John Peter Daly, 58, passed away at his home in Baton Rouge, LA. on June 28, 2023. John was born in Plainfield, NJ on January 26, 1965, and spent his early years in Scotch Plains and Lebanon Township, NJ. He was the son of John & Valerie (Stevens) Daly. John graduated from Voorhees High School mid-year with the Class of 1983 and immediately left to spend a year in Brazil as an exchange student. It was a wonderful experience for him and he came home fluent in Portuguese. He was also fluent in Spanish and had reading and conversational ability in French, Catalan and Haitian Creole. He earned a Bachelor of Arts, Sociology with a minor in Urban Studies from Kean University and a Master of Arts, Linguistics (Magna cum Laude) from California State University, Northridge, CA. He was awarded a Fellowship in the Linguistic Society of America 1999 Summer Institute University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL. During his career, John worked in Health and Human Services for the Florida Dept. of Health and the Human Relations Commission, CA; was involved in Outreach, Research and Intervention programs helping children and families in NYC and the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. He served as a Principal Investigator for the National Tobacco Prevention Assessment in Garden Grove, CA and as a Consultant for the World Health Organization Global Programme on Aids in Geneva, Switzerland. He also taught composition, literature, business writing, grammar, linguistics and developmental courses in the classroom and online at the college level as well as teaching intermediate and advanced levels of TESOL to primarily Spanish and Vietnamese speaking students. John was an activist and an organizer who spent his life fighting to help the impoverished and trying to correct injustices for those he felt could not do it for themselves. He also organized on the app Next Door - creating a program called Neighbors Helping Neighbors in 2021/22. Some of John’s favorite activities had been participating in the marching band in high school, playing softball with the Safe Sluggers in Florida and doing Muay Thai martial arts. About 6 years ago John became disabled with quadriplegia and was confined to a wheelchair. He lived on his own but had to rely on caregivers for many of the things he could no longer do for himself, although he worked hard to be as active and independent as possible, exercising almost every day at home to strengthen himself and keeping involved with neighbors and friends. John liked animals and especially loved his Eclectus parrot, Aoibbhean. He had a small leash for her and she would sit on his shoulder and go everywhere with him. John will be remembered as someone who cared and always fought to help others. In addition to his parents, John leaves behind his brother, David. To send an online condolence please visit www.warrenhillsmemorialhome.com. A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.