Paul Christopher Malaney, 69, of Davenport, Fla., passed away on March 28, 2026, due to complications from a stroke, surrounded by his loving wife and son.
He was born in Burlington, Vt., the youngest of eight children, to Ella and Howard Malaney. He attended St. Anthony’s School and Burlington High School. Paul was a very active child, and growing up in the South End gave him many opportunities for playing in the woods and fields that surrounded the family home. He was a regular yearly visitor to the ER for the many interesting and various types of injuries he managed to sustain, but his most serious one was as a passenger in a motorcycle accident, resulting in his missing his entire senior year of high school, which he then had to repeat.
He developed an early and lifelong love of music, both playing it and the technical aspects of sound engineering, and worked and traveled with many well-known local bands. He then worked for Dartmouth College at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. In 1996, he moved to Florida and started working for Disney World, again doing sound engineering at EPCOT and other attractions for many years, retiring in 2023. In 2000, he married the love of his life, Nadia Barouti, and in 2002 their son, Adam, was born. Although his life and own family were in Florida, he came back to Vermont often and had many lifelong friends and family here. Paul had a great sense of humor and always had a joke to tell or a story from his many experiences being “on the road” with his band member friends or from his escapades with his nephew Sean Allen, as they were only two years apart and partners in mischief for many years.
Paul was predeceased by his parents; brother, Peter; and sisters Peg (Allen), Elaine (Rheaume) Colleen (Colman) and JoAnn Malaney. He is survived by his loving wife, Nadia; son, Adam; sisters Paulette and Lucille Malaney; many nieces and nephews; and many good friends, especially David and Phil Abair and Joel Synder. He was a kind and generous man and a loving husband and father; Nadia and Adam were his whole world. He will be deeply missed by all. Private graveside services were held in Florida.