John Arthur Foley

1960 - 2021

John Arthur Foley
(1960-2021)
Our community has lost a rare soul. John Arthur Foley passed away on February 17, 2021 leaving behind a family of grieving friends and colleagues. John was a brilliant lawyer, talented musician and music collector, devoted husband and cat lover.
John was born on December 7, 1960 in Hollywood, California but grew up in Miami Beach.
He attended Miami Beach Senior High School during which time his mother, his only family, died before John graduated.
John received his undergraduate degree at the University of Miami. He worked as a phlebotomist at Mt. Sinai Medical Center during college and it was there that he met Suzanne, his future wife. He attended the University Of Miami School Of Law graduating in 1988. John worked in private practice in Miami until 1996.
In 1994, John began work as a part time consultant to the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County. He became so invaluable at Legal Aid that he was soon offered a full time position and he and Suzanne moved to West Palm Beach. At Legal Aid, John wore many hats. These included staff attorney and supervising attorney of the Ryan White AIDS Program, the Medical Legal Project, the Wage Dispute Project, and most notably the Non-Profit Legal Assistance Project. In 1997, John received the Legal Aid Society's Human Rights Advocacy Award for his work representing a person living with HIV who was wrongfully denied health insurance.
At Legal Aid, John was Executive Director Bob Bertisch's right hand, serving as counsel to the non-profit law firm. "It was an honor and a privilege to have had John not only as a friend and colleague but as an integral part of the Legal Aid family for over 25 years," said Bob Bertisch.
John created and served as the attorney for the Non-Profit Legal Assistance Project which for more than 20 years provided in-house counsel services to over 60 non-profit organizations throughout Florida. John's contributions also included mentoring young attorneys and interns, teaching classes as an adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University, and regularly offering pro bono legal services to dozens of other nonprofit organizations.
The significance of John's contributions was evident in the numerous recognitions he received throughout his long career. In bestowing the Community Hero Award to John in 2019, Nonprofits First stated: "John built an inimitable legacy of service and made a meaningful contribution to our society. Though his work with the Non-profit Legal Assistance Project went largely unseen by the clients of organizations he helped, John positively impacted hundreds of thousands of lives."
John was also a talented musician and an ardent music lover of all genres, with a special affection for Elton John's music.
In 2008, John lost his beloved wife, Suzanne. In August 2019, John was diagnosed with glioblastoma. Sadly for all of us who knew and loved him, benefitted from his friendship or his years of good works, he lost his struggle after a year and a half.
The memorial service for John will be livestreamed at https://youtube/xX602VcoQAY on Monday, March 22 at 10:00 a.m.
Donations in John's memory can be made to: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital at stjude.org, the Elton John AIDS Foundation at eltonjohnaidsfoundation.org, or the John Foley Scholarship Fund (contact Marlene Passell at npcobcagmail.com for information).