Dr. Joseph Edmund Hickey

Dr. Joseph Edmund Hickey of East Hampton, CT passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his family on Thursday Dec. 26, 2019. Born in Boston, Massachusetts on Nov. 15, 1935, he was the son of the late Joseph and Alice (White) Hickey of Boston. He enjoyed and loved his wonderful family of two sisters and three brothers. He has lived in Connecticut since marrying in 1964.

Dr. Hickey graduated from Boston English High School, Saint John’s seminary, Brighton, MA and St. Anselm College Manchester, NH. He received his Master’s Degree from Central Connecticut State University and his doctorate (Ed.D) in Education from Boston University, completing his doctoral dissertation under the direction of the late Dr. Lawrence Kohlberg at the Lab of Human Development at Harvard University. As a teaching and research fellow at Harvard he conducted studies in criminal psychology in Mass., Conn., and Canada. Throughout his consulting career he published numerous journal articles and papers. Through a collaborative effort between the State of Connecticut and Harvard University he was director of the “Just Community Project” at the Niantic Women’s Prison and published a book entitled “Toward a Just Correctional System” the subject of which highlighted how educational opportunity for a certain segment of the prison population had the potential to turn lived around. His writing also focused on creating an economic structure within the prison system which would successfully prepare an inmate for release and help to relieve a state’s financial burden in running an institution. After spending12 years at Harvard as Research Director, and eight years as director of the “Just Community Project”, Dr. Hickey concentrated his efforts in the classroom at the University of New Haven as an Assoc. Professor and department chairman where he taught many members of Connecticut’s law enforcement community.

   Dr. Hickey spent 15 years serving on the Board of Trustees of Cheshire Academy in Cheshire, CT. He served as Chairman of the Board in his final years at the Academy. He also served in the United States Navy.

   Joe was an avid reader with a special interest in history especially military history, Theology, Philosophy, Ireland, and wooden boat building. To that end he completed a wooden boat building course in Mystic. For many years you would find him sailing his wooden Comet sail boat on Lake Pocotopaug in East Hampton. He was always eager for lively conversation on those subjects of interest to him especially Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire where his lively family had a summer home. Joe held dear to the memories of the wonderful summers he and his five siblings spent boating, swimming, water skiing and sailing. He loved music and one could often hear him singing as he worked in his yard on Meeks Point Rd. He often would remark when asked why he was singing he’d respond, “I am a very happy man”.

   Joe was a man of deep faith and love of his family. He leaves behind his wife and best friend of sixty years, Amy (Danaher) Hickey; son Joseph 3rd and his wife, Marielle and their children Shannon, Brennan and Seamus; his daughter Amy Cady and children Colum and Claire; and his son Lt. Col. Cornelius Hickey, USMC and his wife Anne and children Cornelius (CJ), Aidan and Margaret.

  A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Friday Jan. 3, 2020 at 11:00AM in St. Patrick Church in East Hampton. A reception will be held in the Parish Center following the Mass. Burial will be private in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Meriden. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the Middlesex Hospice c/o Department of Philanthropy 55 Crescent St. Middletown, CT 06457 or to St. Patrick Church 47 West High St. East Hampton, Ct 06424.

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