JESSUP, Pa. — Patrick J. Dempsey, founder and retired president of Dempsey Uniform & Linen Supply headquartered here, died on Jan. 5 after an illness.
He was 91.
Born in Scranton on Dec. 22, 1933, Dempsey was the second of four sons of James G. and Mary “Mae” Walsh Dempsey.
He attended St. Mary of Mt. Carmel grade school in Dunmore and graduated in 1951 from St. Paul High School in Scranton. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering from Lehigh University, where he was president of the Beta Epsilon chapter of Alpha Sigma Phi Social Fraternity.
In 1966, he received a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Scranton.
Dempsey served in the U.S. Army, stationed at the Redstone and Frankford Arsenals. At Redstone, he worked in the electrical engineering section of the Fabrication Laboratory on the Jupiter Guided Missile Project, which was under the civil supervision of the renowned V-2 guided missile expert, Wernher Von Braun.
In 1955, before his military service, he studied at the American Institute of Laundry Management in Joliet, Illinois, preparing for his first step into the laundry industry as a production supervisor at Mother’s Laundry in Dunmore, Pennsylvania.
In October 1958, Dempsey and his brother, Dick, began constructing Dempsey Linen Supply in Dunmore. They opened for business in 1959 with only one delivery route and four employees.
Today, Dempsey Uniform & Linen Supply services six states and employs almost five hundred people. It is run by Pat’s son, P.J., and daughter, Kristin, and his other four children are connected to the business.
Dempsey chaired several TRSA committees that developed seminal training materials for the industry. He was also Chairman of the Board of CSC, a national network of independent laundries, and a founding member of the National Management Bureau.
He received the industry’s highest and most prestigious honor, the TRSA Lifetime Achievement Award, in 2011.
In 1985, Pat was elected to the board of directors at Fidelity Deposit and Discount Bank in Dunmore and served as interim CEO and president in 2010. He served as chairman from 2005 to 2018, successfully leading Fidelity through the Great Recession and its listing on NASDAQ.
Dempsey was always committed to serving and giving back to his community. He served as a member of the Lackawanna County Regional Planning Commission for nearly 50 years, holding the position of chairman for 39 years. He was chaired the Dunmore Zoning Board and the Dunmore Planning Commission.
Locally, he was honored by the Northeast Council of Boy Scouts of America with their Distinguished Citizen Award in 2013 and was named the Junior Achievement Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014.
Dempsey was a lifelong member of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Dunmore and a past member of Cursillo. He received the Holy Name Society’s Annual Memorial Award in 2015. And with a nod to his Irish heritage, he led the Scranton St. Patrick’s Parade as Honorary Grand Marshal in 2019.
Dempsey is survived by his six children, 14 grandchildren and his brother Thomas.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 55 years, Karen Bewick Dempsey, who died in June 2024, and his brother, Dick, in 2011.
The funeral was conducted Jan. 11 in Dunmore. Memorial contributions may be made to Pennsylvanians for Human Life.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].
