Los Angeles- John J. Fogarty "Jack", lately of Los Angeles, passed away peacefully surrounded by family in Albany on March 12, 2017 at the age of 89.

Jack was born in Rensselaer to John W. Fogarty of Rensselaer and Margaret Carr Fogarty of Albany. He attended St. John's School in Rensselaer and was a graduate of Christian Brothers Academy in Albany. In his youth, Jack was a volunteer firefighter at Rensselaer’s E.F. Hart Hose Company, a World War II-era veteran of the U.S. Navy and, for a number of years in 1950s, a New York State Trooper stationed throughout upstate New York.

He later moved to Los Angeles where he worked as a longshoreman in the Port of Los Angeles and was active in the dockworkers union, while managing to find time to make some well-considered—and other less well-considered—wagers at Santa Anita, his favorite horse track. Trying to explain his fascination with horse racing to a nephew who found it boring, he once offered some simple advice: “Try it with the rent money.”

Jack was predeceased by his parents and his sisters Margaret Williams, Mina (John) Hession of Albany and Dolores Flanigan of Rensselaer. He is survived by his nieces Margaret (Jacques) St. Louis of Estacada, Oregon; Karen (Bill) Phillips of Albany; and nephews Mark (Beth) Flanigan of Edgewater, Maryland and Terrance Williams of Voorheesville, as well as many grand-nieces and grand-nephews who will miss him greatly.

Though he spent many years far from his family, Jack was a constant presence in their lives through the quirky, thoughtful and funny cards he sent like clockwork on holidays and birthdays, often with a money order slipped in for good measure. His intelligence and keen wit were enjoyed and admired. Jack was also a mainstay at major family affairs, especially weddings, and well into his eighth decade his trademark dance style commanded attention.

Jack remained active and independent in Los Angeles until just last year, exploring the city he both loved and found bewildering. He enjoyed stopping by the Santa Monica Farmers Market and Starbucks, where he would read the papers and do the crossword—if aspiring screenwriters weren’t taking up all the seats. (He was a crossword fiend, sometimes doing as many as three a day.)

But Jack always intended to come back east someday. In recent weeks, when doctors informed him that he wouldn’t survive a flight home, he wasn’t convinced. But, eventually, he accepted their advice. He took the train instead.

Jack accomplished the three-day trip home with the love and care of his niece Meg. They pulled into Rensselaer—near where his father and grandfather worked as trainmen for the Boston & Albany railroad—a little over a week before he died.

The family thanks Community Hospice of Albany for their caring support.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. John the Evangelist and St. Joseph in Rensselaer on Monday at 10 a.m. Interment will be in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, East Greenbush.