Joseph R. Foley

CAPE ELIZABETH – Joseph R. Foley, a longtime resident of Cape Elizabeth who spearheaded the successful effort to establish a Ronald McDonald House in Portland, died Nov. 24, 2023, in Scarborough. He was 97.

After one of his children was seriously injured in an accident in Vermont in 1986, he and his wife, the late Catharine Bagshaw Foley, spent three months at the Ronald McDonald House in Burlington. He returned home determined to bring the same services to families of hospitalized children in the Portland area and beyond.

He co-founded Stand By Me, a nonprofit dedicated to establishing a Ronald McDonald House in Portland near Maine Medical Center, and diligently garnered support from Maine McDonalds owner/operators, the business community, and civic groups. He spoke to groups throughout the region, recounting the day he and Catharine received “the phone call no parent wants to get,” describing their experience in Vermont, and urging potential supporters to join him in the Stand By Me effort.

Years of hard work culminated in the opening of the Ronald McDonald House in 1995. He served as co-chair of the Stand By Me board of directors and was the first recipient of the Heart of Gold Award from Ronald McDonald House Charities-Maine, recognizing his extraordinary efforts in support of the project. He helped oversee the facility’s subsequent expansion, which has enabled the facility to serve more than 30 families each night near the medical center cost-free while their children are undergoing treatment.

The project was just one part of Joe’s community service efforts in the Portland area, work that led him to receive the Jefferson Award for Public Service, a prestigious honor recognizing those who provide outstanding support to their communities. He was co-chair of the campaign to build St. Bartholomew Church in Cape Elizabeth, where he was a church parishioner for more than a half-century, and a longtime member of the Kiwanis Club.

Joe was born in Somerville, Mass., May 4, 1926, the eldest of five children of Joseph P. Foley and Mary Hally Foley. His family later moved to Lowell, Mass., where his father worked in the city’s textile mills.

He enlisted in the U.S. Navy at 17, serving from 1943 to 1946, including duty on Naval vessels in the South Pacific. Returning to Lowell, he earned his bachelor’s degree from Boston College, and soon after married Catharine Bagshaw. They were married for almost 65 years, until her death in 2016. His very successful career in sales and management included more than 25 years with Graybar Electric Co., which led Joe and Catharine to move their family from Massachusetts to Maine in 1967. They settled in the Broad Cove area of Cape Elizabeth, where they would live for more than 50 years, forming lifelong friendships.

Joe and Catharine raised five children, and family always was the center of his life. He was devoted to his wife, and dedicated to and fiercely proud of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, who affectionately referred to him as “G.G.”

Survivors include: children Joseph Foley and his wife Patricia O’Carroll of Naples, Fla. and Falmouth; Mary Boyle and her husband Gerry Boyle, of China Village; Owen Foley and his wife Stella Michaelis, of Los Angeles, Calif.; Martha Foley and her husband Oliver Payne, of Kennebunk; and John Foley, of Kennebunk; grandchildren Christopher Foley, Cameron Foley, Cara Foley, Emily Westbrooks, Carolyn Liegner, Charlie Boyle, Greta Hagen, Mark Hagen, Zoe Kennedy, Lara Foley, Julia Foley; and 11 great-grandchildren.

He is also survived by a sister, Donna MacLean and her husband Norman, of Tewksbury, Mass., and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his sister Patricia Foley, and his brothers, William Foley and Robert Foley.

There will be no visiting hours. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Bartholomew Church in Cape Elizabeth, Dec. 7, at 10 a.m. Burial will follow at Riverside Cemetery in Cape Elizabeth.

Online condolences may be expressed at http://www.hobbsfuneralhome.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Ronald McDonald House, 250 Brackett Street, Portland, ME 04102.