Tina Fey Pays Tribute to Her Late Father
Tina Fey (Getty Images0
Tina Fey honored her father, Donald, who passed away on October 18, as only she could, saying, “The Republican Party should have tried to clone him.” He was a Korean War veteran and a retired firefighter and died of heart failure at 82.
“He was a great dad and a talented artist and writer, but I also think of him as a Great American — he served his country in Korea, he served his city as a fireman, he took his kids regularly to art museums and historical sites,” Fey told The Philadelphia Inquirer for her father’s obituary.
Fey dedicated a chapter in her 2011 autobiography Bossypants to her father, called “That’s Don Fey.”
“My dad has visited me at work over the years, and I’ve noticed that powerful men react to him in a weird way. They ‘stand down.’ The first time [SNL creator] Lorne Michaels met my dad, he said afterward, 'Your father is… impressive.’ They meet Don Fey and it rearranges something in their brain about me. Alec Baldwin took a long look at him and gave him a firm handshake. 'This is your dad, huh?’ What are they realizing? I wonder. That they’d better never mess with me, or Don Fey will yell at them? That I have high expectations for the men in my life because I have a strong father figure?
“Only [SNL writer] Colin Quinn was direct about it. 'Your father doesn’t f–king play games. You would never come home with a shamrock tattoo in that house.’
“That’s Don Fey.”
In addition to being a firefighter, Fey also worked in communications, retiring as director of development communications at Thomas Jefferson University in 1992.
“When he taught me how to play baseball he would say to me, 'If you throw like a girl again, we’re going in.’ (I took it in the spirit it was intended.) He read poetry and history and newspapers. He was an informed patriot,” Fey said. “The Republican Party should have tried to clone him.”
Tina Fey sits with her husband Jeff Richmond, her mother Jeanne and father Don as she’s awarded the Mark Twain Prize for Humor in 2010 (AP Photo)
In addition to Tina, Don Fey is survived by his wife Jeanne and their son Peter. A private memorial service was held last Friday. The Fey family has established a scholarship in his name for veterans attending Temple University’s School of Media & Communication.
