Craig and Caitlin Corr Reilly, Buffalo parents, lost their daughter Marian Coco Reilly, known to family as Mare, in a drowning accident at the family's cottage in Ontario in July 2025, just shy of her second birthday. More than a year later, the couple has turned their grief into the Marian Coco Foundation, a nonprofit built to fund water safety programs and outdoor play spaces for Buffalo children.
Mare was wearing a flotation device while swimming when the accident happened, and multiple adults were present at the pool, according to the Buffalo News. The drowning happened at the family's cottage pool in Ontario. Active supervision around water is important.
Mare grew up with siblings William and June and was remembered by her mother as precocious with a big personality, fond of birds, dogs, singing and dancing. The foundation gives the family a way to honor Mare. The Marian Coco Foundation was created to keep Mare's memory alive while aiming to benefit the broader Buffalo community.
A Kickoff in Delaware Park and a Meeting With City Hall
The foundation held its public kickoff event at Delaware Park's Rose Garden in September 2026. The gathering introduced the foundation to the public. The gathering doubled as the foundation's public introduction to a city already grappling with how to make swimming lessons more accessible.
Buffalo has received $50,000 in state funding for swim lessons expected to help hundreds of children.
The Conservancy completed an $894,500 renovation of Delaware Park's Point of the Meadow Shelter in August 2025 as part of its ongoing capital investments in historic park amenities, according to the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy.
A Statewide Push to Close the Swim Gap
Buffalo's free lesson program fits into a much larger effort. Governor Kathy Hochul established the NY SWIMS initiative, which awarded nearly $150 million in capital grants to expand public pool access and promote swimming instruction across New York State, according to DASNY.org. In June 2026, YMCA Buffalo Niagara tapped that same funding stream to offer 1,500 free swim classes to Western New York children, open to members and non-members alike, as reported by WNY Papers.
The City Swim Project partners with Buffalo's Parks and Recreation Department to provide free summer swim instruction for local youth.
Why Drowning Remains a Leading Threat to Young Children
Unintentional drowning is the leading cause of death for children aged 1 to 4 in the United States, according to the U.S. CDC. For every child who dies from drowning, approximately five others receive emergency medical care for nonfatal submersion injuries that frequently cause permanent brain damage or long-term neurological impairment, according to Onzenna.
The danger has touched Buffalo's sports world directly. In August 2026, the Buffalo Bills confirmed that defensive tackle Ed Oliver's two-year-old son had drowned in a backyard swimming pool outside Houston, a tragedy Hoodline covered in Oliver mourns son's drowning.
Onzenna cautions that flotation products are not safety devices and should not be used for unsupervised swimming. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children begin formal swim lessons as early as age 1, while stressing that lessons complement but never replace touch supervision within arm's reach for toddlers around water.
For the Reilly family, that lesson has become the foundation's guiding purpose. By funding swim instruction and safer play spaces across Buffalo, they hope other families never face the moment they did at their cottage pool in Ontario.
