State mourns passing of political heavyweight

PAWTUCKET - Former Mayor James E. Doyle, known for elevating the city’s arts community and for remembering everybody’s name, died Friday night. He was 78.

Between his time on the City Council and as mayor, Doyle was in public office in Pawtucket for 40 years. He was mayor for more consecutive years than any other mayor in Pawtucket history, serving from 1997 to 2010.

“He was an ambassador for our city,” Mayor Donald Grebien said. “Mayor Doyle was someone who enjoyed being with people. He had a gift of immediately connecting with you when he met you, and then remembering everyone and everything in your life the next time he was with you. He is someone that will be truly missed.”

To attend the Pawtucket Arts Festival or walk across the iconic Pawtucket River Bridge – renamed the Mayor James E. Doyle Pawtucket River Bridge earlier this year – or read about efforts to develop a commuter rail station is to look upon an initiative that bears Doyle’s fingerprints.

“Mayor Doyle had a hand in each of these achievements, and Pawtucket is stronger today because of his leadership,” Congressman David Cicilline said in a statement. “Mayor Doyle loved this city and its residents, and he cherished the opportunity to serve on their behalf.”

Doyle was raised in the Pleasant View neighborhood of Pawtucket. A 1960 graduate of Providence College with a degree in education, he went on to teach English and social studies at Pawtucket West High School, now Shea Senior High School, from 1960-1962. He later worked as a sales representative in the pharmaceutical field and for the Massachusetts Envelope Company.

He was elected to the City Council in 1970 and served as both president and chair of the finance committee during his quarter-century tenure.

Doyle had a profound impact on current City Council President David Moran, who noted that Doyle would sometimes jokingly refer to him as his godson.

“I started in 1992, sat next to him on the council, and I looked at him like a mentor to me,” Moran said. “Through many, many years, he would help me along if I needed help.”

Moran’s father also served with Doyle on the council, from 1976-1986.

“I called him the people’s mayor,” David Moran said. “Extremely approachable, very responsive to the people’s needs in the city. He would take his shirt off his back to help anybody. He would always go out of his way to be cordial.”

Moran noted that Doyle was a pioneer for bringing the arts into Pawtucket, creating a renaissance that the mayor was extremely proud of.

In 1999, he created a 307-acre arts and entertainment district to bring artists into vacant and under-utilized mills. The same year, he established the Pawtucket Arts Festival, which kicked off with the 18th annual Taste of the Valley on Friday night.

Doyle also helped bring the Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre, Mixed Magic Theatre and Stone Soup Coffeehouse to the city.

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre is now housed in the Pawtucket Armory, which Doyle purchased from the state for $1 to transform it into an arts center.

The Arts & Business Council of Rhode Island presented Doyle and the City of Pawtucket with its Arts Advocacy Award in 2004.

Also in 2004, the Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce gave Doyle its Barbara C. Burlingame Award, and in 2006, the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission presented him with the John H. Chafee Public Service Award for his efforts to preserve historic mills.

One effort to renovate old mill buildings was Riverfront Lofts, a development Weiss noted was successful enough for private banks to then finance Baily Lofts, Slater Cotton Lofts and The Lofts 125.

Under Doyle’s tenure came the revitalization of Hope Artiste Village, which now employees about 500 people across 150 small businesses.

In partnership with the Pawtucket Foundation, Doyle began an effort in 2005 to develop a commuter rail station on the Pawtucket and Central Falls line, which would return rail service to the city for the first time since 1981.

Under Doyle’s administration, the city funded its share of the initial feasibility study. The station recently received federal funding and is on track for completion in 2019.

Other initiatives birthed under Doyle include a dog park and skate park, the development of the former Peerless Building into the city’s visitor center and the construction of a $46 million treatment plant.

“He was the definition of a true public servant who dedicated his life to the City of Pawtucket. His love for Pawtucket was second only to his love for his family,” Attorney General Peter Kilmartin said in a statement. “I am fortunate to be among the many who considered him a friend and a mentor.”

The former mayor also oversaw the $82 million construction of the Pawtucket River Bridge and its distinctive design elements.

Bob Billington, president of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council, remembers how Doyle got behind the efforts to stop the redesign of the bridge mid-stream to get a better design.

“He had a great knack, I think, of being able to surround himself with good people,” Billington said, “a great knack of listening to the community speak, those leaders, whether it’s arts or schools or healthcare or tourism.”

One of Billington’s favorite stories to tell about Doyle is the unintended consequence of putting him in a canoe to watch a concert at Veterans Memorial Park. Billington, Doyle and Doyle’s wife, Joan, paddled upstream to listen to the music.

After paddling back and up to the dock, Billington and Joan Doyle got out of their canoes. But the next thing Billington knew, James Doyle’s canoe had flipped over and the mayor was chest-deep in the water.

“I was mortified, and he was such a gentleman, said nothing,” Billington commented. “Never said one bad word, but the poor guy was there soaked, and then he had to go to his daughter’s for his Sunday dinner.”

Joan Doyle spearheaded a turkey basket drive in 1998, a tradition carried on today by Grebien’s wife, Laureen.

Aside from his wife, James Doyle is survived by children Cristen, Joanne and Jamie, who is a state senator; and grandchildren Ellen, Caroline, Olivia, Tucker, Chloe, Jamie and Paige.

After his time as mayor, Doyle served as vice president for business development with Bristol County Savings Bank.

While friends and family remember Doyle’s many contributions and accomplishments, the former mayor didn’t feel his political career was about him.

When his 13-year tenure as mayor came to an end in 2010, he said, “It was never, ever about me. It’s about you. It’s about us. The greatest city in Rhode Island. The greatest city in the U.S.”

Follow Erica Moser on Twitter @Erica_Faith13