by Catherine Skivers
George Fogarty was loved and respected by everyone who knew him. I feel privileged to have been asked to write about him. George has been a tower of strength to hundreds of blind and visually impaired people who were seeking their independence. He was involved with California Council of the Blind since its beginning and a charter member of ACB.
George was employed for many years by the Department of Education, where he worked to provide rehabilitation and employment services to people who were blind and visually impaired. I was one of his clients. George was particularly special to my family because he helped me get the job which allowed me to keep my family together after my husband was killed in 1976. He remained a friend and a force in our lives, even directing one of my sons on a career path he loves.
George always claimed that he did not find jobs for blind people. “I just found the opportunities and the blind sold themselves,” he would explain. His excellent sense of humor, along with some Irish blarney and a lovely singing voice, will cheer those of us who knew and loved him as we remember his life and how he touched ours. He will live in our hearts forever. We could fill a whole issue of “The Braille Forum” and still not say enough good things about George. His nephew, Brian Fogarty, wrote him a fine tribute which appeared in local newspapers here in California’s Bay Area, including “The Hayward Daily Review.” I will conclude my remembrances with the article his nephew wrote. Every word is strongly seconded by those of us who knew and loved George.
George Fogarty, who spent a lifetime mentoring the blind, persuading skeptical employers to open meaningful jobs for them and using his talents advancing their cause for complete independence throughout California and the nation, died peacefully at home in Santa Rosa, Calif. He was 93. Born in San Francisco’s Outer Mission District “when the hillsides were still covered with wildflowers,” schooled at the California School for the Blind in Berkeley, George studied at UCF and earned a law degree at Lincoln Law School with the aid of volunteer readers and the use of braille.
Full of optimism, generous, fiercely self-reliant, firm in the belief that all have an equal chance to direct their own affairs, George was also courtly and gentle, a careful and concerned listener, a storyteller. George was a true egalitarian. He loved his work, his family and many friends, appreciated good food and far-flung travel. George always said he had a wonderful life. He was a wonderful man.
He was predeceased by his life’s companion and “eyes” Martha, and his two brothers, Raymond and Bill. He leaves a legion of independent blind, cousin Mary Friman, his two nephews, Brian and Bill, and their families, who are grateful to his wonderful caregiver, Phinehas Njuno. At George’s request, no service is planned.