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April 4, 2008

Matching fund set up in memory of Coventry father of 11

Two days after a Coventry father of 11 died in a head-on collision, local philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein says he will match up to $10,000 in gifts to a memorial fund set up for his widow and children.

Joseph Fogarty, a truck driver who was out of work with a back injury, crossed a double-line in his pick-up truck on Arnold Road at about 7:20 p.m. Wednesday night and hit a tractor-trailer carrying 10,500 gallons of home heating oil, according to a preliminary investigation by police.

He left behind his wife, Kathleen Fogarty, and 11 children, eight of them adopted and seven of them under age 18. Kathleen has been a stay-at-home mother for years, and family members say they are unsure how they will manage financially.

Feinstein runs a program called Feinstein Junior Scholars, which provides students in 116 Rhode Island schools with passes to cultural institutions and consideration for college scholarships. He said several of the Fogarty children have been part of that program.

Feinstein, who called Fogarty a “loving father,” said donors interested in participating in his challenge grant program could send checks made out to the Joseph Fogarty Memorial Fund to The Feinstein Foundation, 37 Alhambra Circle, Cranston, RI 02905.

A memorial fund has also been set up by a family cousin. Checks can be made out to the Joseph Fogarty Memorial Fund and mailed to Citizens Bank, 1220 Main St., West Warwick, RI 02893.

-- Journal staff writer David Scharfenberg

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 3:07 PM | Permalink

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