Visiting Sunday, February 2, 2025 from 2 – 5 PM at Cobble Hill Chapels, 171 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Remembrance Service at 3:30 PM
Donations made to Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and dedicated to Michael are appreciated by his family.
For more information please call Scotto and Heyer Funeral Directors at 718-875-2515
Michael Dardia, 1956-2025
Michael Dardia died of a heart attack on Saturday, Jan 25, in Brooklyn, New York. He was 68 and had other plans. He was reveling in retirement. When people asked him what he did with his days, his stock answer was, “Whatever the hell I want.”
Michael was born and raised in Queens, NY. You could tell. He had a New Yawk accent and he drove like the deranged cabbie he was for a few summers to earn pocket money. He had stories about that, and about his many other incarnations before he found his true calling as Deputy Director of New York City’s Office of Management and Budget for close to 10 years, from 2004 to 2014. Michael was subsequently VP-Finance for the New York Public Library.
At OMB he earned the moniker “Dr. No” – not meant as a compliment by many, but one that he relished. A fierce defender of the City’s fiscal integrity, he regularly challenged the bureaucracy’s conventional thinking and standard operating procedures with his piercing questioning. He ruffled some feathers along the way, but ultimately earned the respect and admiration of many of the ruffled.
Michael’s prior jobs included selling college textbooks, selling surgical instruments, and trading bonds. The market downturn of the late 1980s ended Michael’s finance job, to his relief. He switched gears and coasts, heading west to earn a PhD in public policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Michael had an M.S. in Management and Policy Analysis and a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Stony Brook University. He was also a medic in the US Army Reserves.
If all that sounds random, it wasn’t. Michael had a voracious intellect and a gregarious personality that made him a natural in a variety of fields. He wanted to learn everything, all the time. He was an ardent board game player and converted his whole family – wife Sarah, son Ben and daughter Anna – into gamers too. Michael was a deeply devoted father who encouraged Ben and Anna to pursue their interests, from aviation to physics, and a loving, supportive husband to Sarah.
He loved good cigars, bourbon, science fiction, military history, photography, and visiting historical battle sites around the world. He loathed snobs and phonies. Michael had a short fuse and a big heart: he was quick to anger, quick to move on and funny as hell. We miss him from the bottom of our hearts.
I am deeply shocked to hear of Michael’s sudden passing. My heart goes out to Sarah, Anna and Ben. And to all who knew him and will miss him. I hope you find strength in the love of family and friends at this difficult time, and comfort in the memories you shared with him. My thoughts are with you.
Sarah, Ben and Anna:
Karen and I send our heartfelt condolences on Mike’s passing. He was one of a kind. Mike, whichever hereafter you are reading this in, I am sure you have already provided 5 suggestions for fine-tuning the operation and improving it for those that follow. You made a difference for your country, your community and for many people. You will be missed.
What a wonderful obituary. We are so very sorry for your great loss.
Laurel and Doug
I only knew Michael a short time. We played board games together the past few years after he and his wife moved to Doylestown. Initially we bonded over having a lot of common interests within our niche hobby, but the truth is I enjoyed his company more than I enjoyed his impeccable taste in games.
When you sit around a table with someone for hours at a time, there is a lot of opportunity to learn things about them and see their personality on full display. It was evident almost immediately that Michael was intelligent, opinionated, and most of all thoughtful. Whether it was a strategy for a game or a view of life, his ideas always made sense. I never had the pleasure of meeting his wife or kids, but the way he talked about them, it was clear they were his world. As a father of two kids who are not grown, I filed many of his stories of him and his kids in my head as parenting goals for myself. It seemed abundantly clear to me that Michael had lived a full and interesting life.
My heart goes out to his family. I felt like I was just starting to get to know him and I’m going to miss him, but I also know that my life is richer for what time I spent around Michael.
We met Michael later in life when my dad,Richie, introduced us to his brother. Even though it seemed strange at first, we quickly came to know Micheal. Stories were exchanged and pictures were shared. It was uncanny to see the Dardia mannerism displayed in the same way that we saw in our dad. Micheal, Sarah, Anna, and Ben came to Connecticut and we were lucky enough to get to know each other. I wish we had gotten closer over the years but am grateful to have shared some laughs with Micheal. He will be missed.
Very sorry for your loss. His memory truly a blessing.
I’m so sorry to hear this news. I met Michael in the 80s when he and Sarah were just getting to know each other. I remember being dazzled by his wit, intelligence and ability to fly planes on top of it; Sarah had at last found her match! I remember their joyful wedding well. Sweet memories… From the obit, it’s clear that Michael was much beloved. There is no lovelier epitaph. Sending love to Sarah, Ben and Anna.