Frederick Lippitt

LIPPITT, FREDERICK, former Rhode Island House minority leader and three time candidate for Mayor of Providence, who as a civic leader, politician, educator, philanthropist and army veteran devoted his life to public betterment, died on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 in Providence. He was 88.

Mr. Lippitt died at his home at 108 Prospect Street where he has lived with his sister, Mary Ann Lippitt, for over 50 years. He remained active in a number of civic and charitable organizations prior to a recent illness.

Mr. Lippitt was a scion of an old Rhode Island family that was influential in Rhode Island business and politics. He was the son of United States Senator Henry F. Lippitt, 1911-1917, and Lucy Hayes Herron Lippitt. He was the grandson of Governor Henry Lippitt and the nephew of Governor Charles Warren Lippitt. First Lady Nellie Herron Taft was his aunt. He was the cousin of the late Senator John Chafee and Senator Lincoln Chafee. Mr. Lippitt had five half brothers and sisters on his father's side and two brothers on his mother's side.

Mr. Lippitt graduated from St. Marks School and Yale University in 1939. He enrolled at Yale Law School but after his second year of law school, he joined the Army. He served in the Phillipines and Italy from 1941-1945, and he received a bronze star and a purple heart. He subsequently served another two years in Germany during the Korean War period and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel and the commanding officer of the Rhode Island National Guard 103 Field Artillery in 1963. After World War II he completed Yale Law School in1946.

Mr. Lippitt returned to Providence to join the law firm of Edwards & Angell. He was a partner in the firm for thirty years and served twice as head of the firm's executive council. He served on the boards of the Gorham Company, Rhode Island Hospital Trust National Bank, Keypoint Life Insurance Company, the Quill Pen Company and the Meehan Fund. He was Vice Chairman of the Providence Redevelopment Agency.

Mr. Lippitt's interests in people, politics and civic improvement made him a well respected member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1961 to 1983, including ten years as House Minority Leader. According to an article in the Providence Journal in support of his reelection, Fred worked for improved government procedures, medicare for the elderly, and stronger open meeting and conflict of interest laws. Influenced by his experience in World War II, he strongly supported minority rights and was particularly instrumental in the passage of Rhode Island's Fair Housing Practices Act of 1968.

The financial and ethical chaos of Mayor Cianci's administration led Fred to run for Mayor in 1982. He fared poorly in the three way race, but in his 1984 campaign against Mayor Joseph Paolino and his 1990 campaign against Cianci he lost by only 117 votes and 317 votes respectively. Notwithstanding vigorous campaigns, Mayors Paolino and Cianci remained friends and admirers of Mr. Lippitt. Mayor Paolino appointed him a judge of the Housing Court for 1989-90. From 1985-1989 he was Director of the Department of Administration for the State of Rhode Island.

For fifty years Mr. Lippitt, devoted himself to charitable and civic causes, including being senior Fellow of Brown University, Chairman of the Board of Rhode Island Hospital, Chairman of the Board of the Providence Plan, Head of the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of St Mark's School. In his service to Brown University he was particularly committed to undergraduate education, the Department of Public Policy, minority affairs, the John Carter Brown Library and the improvement of the campus. At his death he was the last lifetime Fellow. Brown recognized his services by awarding him an Honorary Degree in 1977 and the President's Medal. He was an early supporter of the Metropolitan Career and Technical School. He also served on the Boards of the Rhode Island School of Design, the Nature Conservancy, the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, the John E. Fogarty Foundation for the Mentally Retarded, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Providence, the Trust for Public Lands and the Southside Community Land Trust. As part of his vision for Providence, as Chairman of the Providence Plan, he led the effort to raise over twelve million dollars to restore the Woonasquatucket River and the adjacent greenway that now boasts three parks and the Buttonhole Golf Course.

Mr. Lippitt and his sister gave significantly to many charities including the Anton/Lippitt Fund for Public Policy at Brown University and a leadership gift to Butler Hospital to fund the new building, named in the Lippitts' honor, for the treatment of alzheimers.

The funeral service will be held at the First Unitarian Church at the corner of Benefit and Benevolent Streets at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 18, 2005. In lieu of flowers donations may be sent to the Frederick Lippitt Endowment Fund c/o the Rhode Island Foundation, One Union Station, Providence, Rhode Island 02903. This endowment, for many years a vision of Fred's, will be administered by the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council to support river restoration and promote program activities in the Woonasquatucket Greenway for the benefit of the citizens of Providence.