WATERTOWN, NY — Michael Patrick “Tuna” Nevin, 62, Watertown, owner / operator of M & N Painting passed away Friday, Sept. 2, 2022, at the Samaritan Medical Center.
Calling hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, at the Reed & Benoit Funeral Home followed by a prayer service to begin at 4 p.m.
Tuna was born July 5, 1960, in Watertown, a son to James and Dorothy McNulty Nevin. He attended Watertown High School until entering the Northwood Prep School in Lake Placid and made the schools hockey team as a walk on. For two seasons, Michael attended Stan Makita’s hockey training school for hearing impaired hockey players in Chicago. While at Northwood, Tuna was part of the hockey team that won the New York State Championship Title and followed up with the National Championship Title the same year. He furthered his education after prep school at SUNY Potsdam.
After his secondary education, Tuna went to work for Bernier and Carr in Watertown for 10 years and simultaneously operated his own painting company M & N Painting. He left Bernier and Carr in September of 2001 to work full time in his own company. Michael was most known for large scale painting projects and had painted most of the apartment complexes to include 801 housing complexes, Autumn Ridge in Watertown and Madison Barracks in Sackets Harbor, and complexes in Syracuse and Binghamton, to name a few. Tuna had worked at the Holiday Inn and Carriage House Restaurant and bartended during the 1990s at Colesantes on Factory Street.
Tuna was an avid sports fan and loved and collected music. He enjoyed golf and was a New York Giants football fan, New York Yankees baseball fan and Montreal Canadians fan. He was a member of the Watertown Elks.
He is survived by his parents, James P. Nevin and Dorothy McNulty Nevin, both of Watertown; three brothers, Stephen (Mariane), Timothy, and John (Tina Lawton); his nieces and nephews, Johnda and Carrie Ann Mayne, Shanon Nevin, Saige Storino, Hannah Nevin, Cole Granger, Lucas Burnham and Bishop Anderson; a niece Ashley, (Joshua) Loyde and her children Bryer and Eli; and his companion dogs, Hoser and April.
A Celebration of Tuna’s life will be held at the Savory Downtown Restaurant in the Best Western on Washington Street following the prayer service beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday. All are welcome.
Online condolences may be made for the family at www.reedbenoit.com.