Brill shows her commitment to parade

Meg McNerney Brill has been a lifelong resident of West Orange but traces her Irish roots back to Dublin, Ireland.

Brill was born Margaret Eileen McNerney and will be celebrating her 60th birthday on March 18. Brill’s parents, Howard and Dolores McNerney, bought their family home in the 1950s in the St. Joseph’s neighborhood.

Brill has 2 sisters Evelyn Jean and Shirley Beth and while their parents have passed away the family continues to be close and love spending time with each other’s families.

Brill graduated West Orange high school in 1982 and will forever be a West Orange High Cowboy. Brill’s husband Rick Brill graduated from West Orange Mountain High in 1983. Together Rick and Meg live, work and have raised the two boys in town. Matthew and Luke attended West Orange schools and have successfully graduated college; Matt from Fairleigh Dickinson University and Luke from Kean University.

Brill’s previous work experience includes 10 years in New York City with The American International Group (AIG). Shortly after leaving AIG, she began raising a family and working in downtown West Orange with her husband, Rick, as owners of Advantage Pest Control. Currently Brill is the executive director for the Downtown West Orange Alliance and has led the organization for the past 10 years.

Over the years, Brill has been elected twice to the West Orange Board of Education, is an active member of the Life Christian Church, is a Rotarian and past president of the West Orange Rotary Club. She also served on the planning committee for the Vietnam Traveling Wall Memorial and with the high school scholarship fund, raising thousands of dollars in all her positions. Together Meg and Rick are involved in every aspect of life in West Orange and truly love calling West Orange Home.

“The parade, which is what we always called it, has been a family tradition for the McNerney’s ever since we could remember,” she said. “I’m honored, humbled, and excited to march this year alongside my family and the other honorees.”