Kappa Chapter suffered a terrible loss on May 22, 2017 when Brother Mike Cavanaugh passed away suddenly at the age of 34 after a brief battle with cancer. A graveside service was held on June 3rd in Conshohocken and many brothers were in attendance. Afterwards, a celebration of life was held at his mother’s house in Radnor and the celebration continued for hours at the Great American Pub in Conshohocken.
Mike pledged the fraternity in the spring of 2002 with brothers Kevin Flynn and Louis Baltimore. Many of the fraternity brothers were drawn towards Mike because of his intelligent humor and creativity. He wasn’t a slapstick humor type of guy or a guy that tried to make people laugh with idiotic stunts such as breaking plates over his head. Instead, Mike crafted his jokes (most notably in text messages and emails) so eloquently that it had brothers laughing for days. Many of us will continue to share his emails and texts well into our later years because of the humor quality and timeless nature. Not to mention, his pie in the face and fish videos will be on YouTube for eternity.
Mike was a huge fan of Avalon in NJ and many brothers joined him at Whitebrier happy hours and late nights at the Princeton. He was a lover of all sports (especially Philadelphia teams) and could be heard on sports talk radio arguing with one of the many late night hosts. Mike has been a part of the Phi Sig Fantasy Football League of Gentlemen for the past 13 years and has taken the championship trophy home twice. Mike was really into both personal development and corporate development. This was evidenced by his dedication to fitness and his love for his career in finance.
Mike was just recently married to his wife Kathy last September on the beaches of Key West. Many brothers attended the wedding and had a great time in true Phi Sig tradition. Upon hearing of Mike’s death, the Kappa Chapter Phi Sigs demonstrated that we still promote brotherhood regardless of how many years we’ve been out of school. Almost 50 of the Kappa brothers came together and donated and were able to provide his widow Kathy a substantial donation to help pay some bills so that she could take whatever time she needed to grieve the loss of her amazing husband.
We are extremely saddened by the loss of Mike and his spirit will live on forever in our hearts. His passing has reminded us that life is short and we need to go out and experience all that we can because tomorrow isn’t promised. The Hawk will continue to soar!
