Raymond Fogarty, a former Democratic state representative and longtime executive director of Bryant University’s Chafee Center for International Business, died suddenly Thursday while on a business trip in North Carolina. He was 61.
Fogarty’s death was announced by Bryant President Ronald Machtley in a message to the university community.
“Through Ray’s long association with Bryant, first as a student and then an administrator, he was a devoted Bryant ambassador, cultivating relationships with faculty, students, and leaders throughout the business community,” said Machtley.
Fogarty had worked in a number of roles at Bryant since the early 1980s, when he became associate director of the Rhode Island Small Business Development Center. He was a member of Bryant’s class of 1979.
Fogarty was the recipient of Bryant’s Distinguished Alumnus award in 1991. Fogarty’s cousin, former Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty, said Ray Fogarty died suddenly while waiting to board a flight in Charlotte, NC.
“It was totally unexpected,” said Chalres Fogarty. “He was at a big family wedding just last Saturday.”
Fogarty was a scion of a well-known Rhode Island Democratic political family. He was the nephew of former U.S. Rep. John Fogarty, a bricklayer and union leader who was an influential congressman and Democratic House leader. John Fogarty, who died at age 53 of heart failure, was chairman of the U.S. House Labor Committee and a crucial mentor to a young congressman from Boston, John F. Kennedy, who would later win election to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts and become the first Roman Catholic elected president in 1960.
Ray Fogarty, too, had a career in Rhode Island politics before he became director of the Chafee Center. He was elected to the Glocester Town Council at age 23, and won election to the Rhode Island House shortly after. He was a Democrat in a district that was Republican. He had a long list of volunteer and political activities in Glocester and the village of Harmony, where he was active in the fire department. And he served as town moderator.
A burly fellow with a wide smile, Fogarty at the Statehouse was a loyal Democrat who was close to former House Speakers Matthew Smith and Joseph DeAngelis. “He was somebody you wanted on your side,” Said Charles Fogarty. “He had deeply held beliefs and he stood by them.”
He was devoted to his family of four children and his wife, Phoebe, a math teacher at Ponnagansett High School. He also coached youth sports and was active in the Lions Club. He was close to his brother, the late Edward Fogarty, a Rhode Island Statehouse lawyer and avid Boston Red Sox fan who often accompanied Ray to games at Fenway Park. (Ed Fogarty died of a heart attack in September, 2017.)
“His family was his life,’” said Charles Fogarty.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
