Edward Peter Gallogly enjoyed a career that saw him occupy many seats on
the public stage. He is one of the few Rhode Island citizens who served in
all three branches of state government as well as an arm of the Federal
government.
Gallogly was born in Providence on August 28, 1919 one of nine children of
Lawrence and Rose (nee Mimnaugh) Gallogly and grew up in South Providence.
“We came,” he once said, “from what was considered a poor background
although we didn’t know it.” He graduated from LaSalle Academy in 1936 and
from Providence College in December of 1942. During the course of his
secondary education, Edward worked several jobs including stock clerk and
office boy, employed by such Providence notable businesses as the Shepard
Company and Davol Rubber Company.
In 1943 he enlisted in the United States Navy and saw action in the
European and Mediterranean Theatres including the D-Day landings at
Normandy and in the Pacific Theatre at the Philippines and Okinawa. He was
discharged from active duty with the rank of lieutenant, but continued
service in the Naval Reserve teaching courses in international law,
international relations, and military justice at the Naval Reserve Officers
School then located at Fields Point.
The post war years saw Gallogly enter law school at Boston University, but
he remained active in Providence serving as assistant director, and then
director, of the Providence Recreation Department. As a young lawyer, he
supervised a youth recreation center in the Providence area. His brother
Larry, who worked for the Providence Journal, was also a leader in
directing youth sports, especially the Turn O’Wed Leagues.
Joining a Providence law firm, Gallogly was off to Washington, D.C. three
years later where he served as the law clerk to former Governor Robert
Emmett Quinn, first chief judge of the U.S. Court of Military Appeals from
1952 to 1954 after which he returned to Providence to resume private
practice.
Edward was a Democratic state senator from Providence’s 5th
District from 1957 to 1961 and lieutenant governor to Democrat John A.
Notte, Jr. for two years and Republican John H. Chafee for two years. In
1964, he challenged incumbent Chafee for the governor’s seat but lost that
race by a wide margin. He returned to public life in 1967 when Lyndon
Johnson appointed him United States Attorney for Rhode Island. He left the
post in 1969 when the Nixon Administration came into office, but was
appointed chief judge of the Rhode Island Family Court where he was cited
as a pioneer in the development of that court system. He retired from the
bench in 1986.
The importance of family and family life were the cornerstones of Judge
Gallogly’s own life
He served on the board of directors of Ocean Tides in Narragansett, a
regular and special education high school established by the Christian
Brothers for troubled youth. He was also a member of the board of McAuley
House in Providence, a soup kitchen, refuge and social services
organization founded by the Sisters of Mercy in the early 1970s. He also
served on the boards of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court
Judges and the National Council of Juvenile Court Judges.
Judge Gallogly managed to find time in his busy life to be a member of the
Knights of Columbus, the South Kingstown Elks and the American Bar
Association. In his younger years, he was a member of the Snug Harbor
Volunteer Fire Company. Judge Gallogly received the Providence College 75 th Anniversary Diamond Torch Award in 1993 and the following
year was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame for his
distinguished service to community, government and his fellow man.
Judge Gallogly and his wife Florence (nee Giblin) were the parents of
eleven children all of whom graduated from college. By any measure, he led
a full life serving others. Edward Peter Gallogly, Sr. died on April 18,
1995 at the age of 75. He is buried at the Rhode Island Veterans Cemetery
in Exeter.
Lawrence Reid