Pierce Arthur Quinlan's Obituary
Pierce Arthur Quinlan was a man imbued with integrity in everything he said or did.
He died unexpectedly and swiftly at home in Henlopen Acres of natural causes,
a cardiac arrest, on October 29 at age 83. His death was as he would have wished,
it suited his style: crisp, clear and straight to the point. Pierce was a man with a
wide range of interests from baseball to books, sports to stocks, education to
achievement, fine wines to fine dining, skiing to deep water diving, tennis to travel,
art to architecture, biking, cars and the Caribbean. The tall handsome Pierce always
had a twinkle in his eye and a gift for Irish storytelling and compelling conversations.
He loved dogs and the beach as much as he loved his daily diet coke and three
chocolate chip cookies which he dubbed “the breakfast of champions!”
His great passion was for every single angle of real estate, from the ground up,
the building, buying and selling, leveraging success to more success. In the course
of his long lifetime, he collectively owned 43 houses. He was king of the 1031 like-kind
exchange. Houses are a curious thing to collect but he did so with passion, as much as
he loved and collected family, friends, dogs, books, awards, trophies, athletic and
business acumen. He was a master gardener as taught by his grandfather and came to
give himself the moniker “Pietro the Gardener” calling up the Italian name for Pierce.
Shaped by the South Boston surroundings of his native Milton, MA, where he was born on
August 21, 1939, Pierce excelled as a Milton High School scholar-athlete. His natural athletic
ability netted awards as a star ice hockey goalie, with a similar path graduating from Boston
College in 1961 with a degree in economics. Later, in 1986, he attended Stanford University,
awarded a Master’s Degree in entrepreneurial business. Along the way he became a self-taught
oenophile, visiting well over 300 vineyards in Napa and Sonoma while in graduate school and
later domestically plus those in Italy, France, Portugal and Spain on his many travels.
As a supreme athlete, Pierce was a youthful baseball player, an avid skier, a licensed
deep water diver, relentless tennis player and demon rollerblader. He was a dedicated
Dad, encouraging his daughters in sports and coaching his son’s hockey teams. He spent
weekends traveling with them up and down the East Coast and into Canada. Teenagers’
grubby uniforms and smelly sox did not offend this otherwise somewhat elegant gentleman.
Besides being a devoted, doting and loving Dad to his three children Kelly, Keith and Kim,
Pierce took a keen interest in the education of young people, intensely asking facilitating
questions about their likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams as he helped guide them to
making smart plans for their future. His deep belief in education led him to found and chair
LearnScape, a software company creating and distributing tools teaching adults to read, write
and compute. His focus was on providing this useful way of learning to especially help the
prison population. On the lighter side, for a decade Pierce delighted in entertaining millions
in New York’s famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. He was a trained clown and with his
early distinctive white hair adopted the moniker “Heigh Ho Silver” to his wife’s “Sparkle Plenty.”
After a tour of duty in the Army from 1965-67, Pierce began his career in Washington DC with
the Labor Department. In the early ‘60s, the lean lanky New Englander was assigned to the
deep South to establish education centers, rising quickly through government ranks to the
top federal grade to run the employment and training programs for the entire country. His
strong managerial skills brought on the assignment to break up the truckers Teamsters
Union, a task for which he was provided protection.
From there he was hired away to be Executive Vice President of the National Alliance for
Business, also in Washington DC. A feature of NAB was a nationwide reading program
spearheaded by then First Lady Barbara Bush and backed by top corporate executives.
This endeavor dovetailed perfectly with Pierce’s strong belief in the value of
education especially for the underserved. Later the born entrepreneur was hired by
Loral Industries, where he wound up buying his department, then forming his own
company, LearnScape. During his long career in Washington, Pierce won the
Arthur S. Fleming Award, given by then President Reagan, as one of the top ten
outstanding men and women in federal service.
Along the way Pierce became a dedicated and respected community leader in
Rehoboth and Bethany Beach DE and prior to that in Crofton and Darnestown MD.
He was President of the Sea Strand Community of Dewey Beach for several terms.
Pierce served for a decade on the Board of the Rehoboth Art League as well as the
Henlopen Acres Beach Club. As a fitness buff, in later years he got a kick out of the
exercise, fun and camaraderie of putting up the tents for the Rehoboth Farm Market.
He was also a member and strong proponent of the Rehoboth Beach Writer’s Guild.
His first marriage to Judy Robinson Quinlan ended in divorce. He was widowed after
a 25-year marriage when his wife Joyce Starbird Quinlan died of brain cancer.
On Flag Day, June 14,14 years ago he married the widow Virginia Daly of
Henlopen Acres and Washington DC. He is survived by his wife and children
Kelly Ann Quinlan of Scottsdale, AZ, Kimberly Ann Quinlan (Chris Lea) of Riva, MD,
Keith Allan Quinlan (Lourdes), grandson Kyle Quinlan of Orcutt, CA, and step-grandson
Gustavo Gonzalez of Nashville, TN. Pierce was predeceased by his mother Genevieve
Scollin Quinlan, father Pierce Francis Quinlan and his brother Kevin Quinlan.
A funeral service will be held at All Saints Episcopal Church at 1:00pm on November 9, 2022
with private interment at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, anyone interested in contributing in Pierce’s honor, might consider the Rehoboth Art League, Rehoboth Beach Yoga or the Rehoboth Beach Writer’s Guild.
Please sign the virtual guestbook located on the tribute page.
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