Ronald H. Rappaport, the respected and ubiquitous Martha’s Vineyard attorney whose work cut across nearly every aspect of Island life, died unexpectedly Friday night in Vineyard Haven
Ronald H. Rappaport, the respected and ubiquitous Martha’s Vineyard attorney whose work and relationships cut across nearly every aspect of Island life, died unexpectedly on June 7 in Vineyard Haven. He was 74 and had lived year-round in Chilmark with his wife of nearly 47 years Jane Kaplan.
With his signature wiry, wild hair, Mr. Rappaport cut an unforgettable figure and occupied an equally unique role on the Vineyard over many decades. Outgoing and full of fun, he was also a fiercely effective negotiator who worked behind the scenes in myriad ways to resolve problems and advance community goals.
He was a trusted municipal attorney who represented the towns in legal battles large and small and was a highly regarded presence in courtrooms from Edgartown to Boston. His friendships — both on and off the Island — were legion, and there were hundreds, if not thousands, who relied on him for his thoughtful counsel and advice. He wore an array of civic hats, among other things serving as the Vineyard Steamship Authority governor for seven and a half years in the late 1990s.
Above all, he was deeply devoted to his family and always stayed true to his Island roots, understood the community values and way of life that are a hallmark of the Vineyard and fought to protect them.
“We are a community of volunteers. We have to take care of ourselves,” he said during a 2000 ceremony when he was presented with the Hospice Spirit of the Vineyard award.
It was a credo he lived by.
Ronald Hall Rappaport was born on June 16, 1949 at the Martha’s Vineyard Cottage Hospital in Oak Bluffs, the second child of Dr. David Rappaport and Adeline Hall Rappaport. A revered Island physician, Dr. Rappaport had his office on Circuit avenue. Adeline Rappaport founded and ran a successful travel agency.
He attended the Oak Bluffs School and played baseball in Viera Park, today still a home field for Little League on the Vineyard.
In a 2020 commentary for the Gazette following the death of his lifelong friend Dennis daRosa, he vividly recalled growing up in Oak Bluffs in the 1950s and 60s.
“We both appreciated how lucky we were to be from Oak Bluffs. We were close to our parents and our families, and we looked up to the parents of other neighborhood children. It was the best of small-town America,” Mr. Rappaport wrote. “Dennis and I would ride our bikes to school in the morning, then ride them home again for lunch .... When we got our report cards, Dennis and I would go to Our Market and Amos Sylvia would reward us with Fudgsicles.”
He graduated from the Middlesex School in 1967 and Stanford University in 1971. After college he went to work for Sen. Edward Brooke in Washington DC. The Brooke family had a summer home in Oak Bluffs that stood about a center fielder’s throw from Viera Park.
He had known since childhood that he wanted to be a lawyer, but his path to law school was unconventional.
While he was working in Washington for Senator Brooke, he got a call from a person he knew who had recently taken a job as a professor at Boston College Law School, according to his wife, Jane Kaplan. Though the fall semester had already begun, the friend said the school had fewer students than expected.
“They had spaces, and he said if you want to come up right now you could be a first-year student. He never took the LSATs, he never applied,” Ms. Kaplan said.
He enrolled at BC — and simultaneously ran the Boston campaign office for Senator Brooke who was running for re-election — graduating in 1975. He and Jane met at a post-graduate summer course as they both prepared to take the bar exam.
They married in 1977. Both became lawyers at respected Boston law firms; a shared love of the Red Sox and travel that would continue throughout their long marriage.
Soon after their daughter Julia was born in 1984, finding the demands of working at high-octane law firms did not fit well with family life, they moved to the Vineyard.
“We decided we would try to create our own law firm, where we could set our own hours,” Mr. Rappaport recalled in a 2016 Gazette interview with his longtime partner Jim Reynolds.
The firm of Reynolds Rappaport and Kaplan (today Reynolds Rappaport Kaplan and Hackney) was born.
“I thought it was going to be more of a boring, mundane, legal practice with more family time,” Mr. Rappaport recalled. “The surprise has been our cases have been complicated, interesting, fascinating, stimulating. Frankly, I’ve worked just as hard here as I did in Boston. The idea of getting more family time didn’t really work out the way I envisioned it.”
His daughter Julia had a different take. “He made a conscious choice to come to the Vineyard and do what his father did — it was more than just a move and starting a law firm, it was something different,” she said. “The Island was his family — if you were family, he took care of you.”
She recalled one year when she was home from school for Christmas break. “Very early on Christmas morning there was a knock on the front door. Everyone was sleeping. I went down and opened the door and a man was standing there — he said not a word, just handed me a bag of scallops.”
It was a Menemsha fisherman’s recompense for legal work Mr. Rappaport had done for him.
His first town counsel job was with the tiny town of Aquinnah (then Gay Head). Eventually he would become counsel to five of the six Island towns and the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank.
In one of his many cases, he represented Edgartown in a decade-long fight to preserve Herring Creek Farm from development, resulting in a landmark 1996 Supreme Court decision upholding three-acre zoning. “Edgartown and the other communities on the Vineyard will stand and fight to protect our environment against anyone, no matter how well financed, aggressive or obnoxious,” he said at the time.
There were battles too during his years as SSA governor, when powerful state legislators from New Bedford pressed for the state to take control of the quasi-public boat line.
At the Hospice event in 2000 Mr. Rappaport was lauded for his work representing the Island during a turbulent period for the two Islands.
“I never wanted this to be my identity,” he bluntly told the gathering. He continued: “Freight service to New Bedford is not about whether it is a six-month or an eight-month, or a one or two-year program. It is about control. This is about who is going to decide how many cars there will be, when they will run and whether there will be a late night boat for the hockey team. We are looking at this as a lifeline.”
Carol Borer, the late executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, added her own perspective.
“I believe you are the Vineyard’s lifeline,” she said.
Mr. Rappaport doted on his two young grandsons, loved the beach and was a familiar presence on up-Island roads on his bike, his unruly hair spilling out from beneath the helmet. He had planned to retire soon. His sudden death left the close-knit Vineyard community in shock on a brilliant June weekend. An outpouring of comments on the Gazette website recalled his humor, thoughtfulness and countless contributions to the Island. It called to mind his own remarks 24 years ago at the Hospice event.
“There is a downside to public service; it is that you can only hold the banner so long,” he said. “Others have to step up to these leadership positions.”
He is survived by his wife Jane Kaplan of Chilmark; daughter Julia Rappaport of Newton and Chilmark and her husband Jack Spencer; two grandsons who were the joy of his life, Sam Haven Rappaport Spencer and Charlie West Rappaport Spencer; his brother Alan Rappaport of Chilmark and Florida and sister Susan Cohen of Newton and their spouses Jill Rappaport and Fredrick Cohen; nephew Alex Rappaport and his wife Catalina of New York, niece Hilary Rappaport and her wife Lindsay of New York, nephew Michael Cohen and his wife Mara Green of Newton and Tisbury, and niece Cindi Samuels and her husband Greg of Chagrin Falls, Ohio. He is also survived by grand nieces and grand nephews, all of whom he took pride in: Harper and Reese Cohen, Emilee and Roxie Samuels, Lyle Rappaport and a new grand niece that will join the family in several months.
A public memorial is being planned for late summer.
Comments
We have lost a true Island
Wayne Budd Oak Bluffs/ BostonWe have lost a true Island icon , brilliant attorney and a first class human being … He will be truly missed by all who knew him including but not limited to his family and his legions of friends … Rest in peace Ron ; yours is a life well lived …
We are shocked and saddened
Charlayne Hunter-Gault & Ron Gault Oak BluffsWe are shocked and saddened by Ron's passing. He served so many, so well, including my family. Here's to his safe journey to the Land of the Ancestors. As for his legacy on the Vineyard: Long Live! And condolences to his Family.
Devastating news. Ron was
Mitzi Pratt AquinnahDevastating news. Ron was such a champion of the island and a warm, funny, wonderful person. We will all miss him so much.
I am one of many Vineyard
David Damroth ChilmarkI am one of many Vineyard folks who Ron touched with his kindness and helping hand.
His passing is a huge community loss.
My thoughts to Jane and Julia.
The photo captures it, but
Ron AdmirerThe photo captures it, but Ron also had an unmistakable look and an ever present twinkle in his eye. I’m decades younger but Ron always felt my age (or younger!) at heart. Love you Ron and will forever miss your presence.
Such sad news. Condolences to
Chris EdgartownSuch sad news. Condolences to his family.
It would be hard to overstate
TERRY MCCARTHY OAK BLUFFSIt would be hard to overstate the impact Ron has had on the vineyard and its institutions. From the time he was an aide to Senator Ed
Brooke to his outstanding tenure as a governor on the Steamship Authority he performed brilliantly to make the Island a better place. His standing as a giant among Island attorney's is without dispute and his unflagging humanity and genuine caring for others was his trademark. I know I will miss him and the Vineyard community will miss him. A life well lived indeed....
We all know it'll happen -
skip OBWe all know it'll happen - but we'd like more time with some. Ron is(was) one I'd like more time with. Sad :-(. Go in peace
Ron was a great lawyer and a
Francis A.Ford EdgartownRon was a great lawyer and a very special person. He will be missed.
Francis Ford & Shirley Doyle
Edgartown
Huge, incomprehensible loss.
Meg Bodnar AquinnahHuge, incomprehensible loss. Ron was a pillar of this island and just a smart, good person who always championed and supported the Vineyard spirit and people. His work touched everyone here, whether they knew it or not. What an impactful life you had, Ron. Thank you.
What a tremendous loss for
J.P. Bretl EdgartownWhat a tremendous loss for both the island and everyone who knew Ron.
Heartbreaking. Ron and Jane
Vickee Jordan Adams and Barry Adams New YorkHeartbreaking. Ron and Jane are longtime family friends whose warm embrace we cherished each summer. Ron was a source of great laughter and sage advice. May he rest in peace with flights of Angels seeing him home.
Ron was the island’s
Philippe Jordi West TisburyRon was the island’s godfather. Memories of him filled my head while riding up-island this morning. Rest in peace, Ron.
This is sad and devastating
Nancy ParrishThis is sad and devastating news. Ron’s warmth, humor, wisdom, kindness and guidance enriched our lives. He was humble yet a giant among men. I can’t imagine coming to the island, without seeing Ron. We will hold those times with him and our dear friend, Jane close to our hearts always.
Stunningly sad news. There
Tim Sweet West TisburyStunningly sad news. There is not corner of Island life that Ron did not touch. His great instincts, sound judgement and good humor were always on display - but his love of the Vineyard was his guiding light. I can’t think of a major issue over the past 40 years that Ron’s deft hand was not involved in settling or resolving. To his clients and friends (too numerous to count) he was the trusted “go-to” for good advice and needed perspective. When fully counted, his lasting impact on all things Vineyard will be profound. And who will ever forget that laugh - or that hair.
The banner across the top of
Ginny Jones West tisburyThe banner across the top of the paper almost perfectly encapsulates the person that Ron Rappaport was. First and foremost, of course, he was an islander whose ethics and values were such that he probably did more good deeds in a day for the welfare of mankind and our world then most of us will accomplish in a life time. He was the gentlest of gentlemen but with a wicked sense of humor, he was kind and a brilliant teacher and explainer of legal matters, he was a bicyclist with thousands of miles to his credit, and he was a friend to many from all walks of life. Thanks.
We have lost an island champion and
He was an island champion and
ginny jonesHe was an island champion and his death is a huge loss.....
Ron was such a life force
James Lapine EdgartownRon was such a life force both personally and professionally. Hard to imagine the island without him.
The Island has lost a pillar
George B Brush West TisburyThe Island has lost a pillar of the community, warm hearted, aware and caring, his positive nature and insightful leadership have helped shape the Islander experience. Thank you Ron….
Ron and I were friends since
Hollis Engley West Barnstable MARon and I were friends since we were teens. A great, caring and very hilarious man who cared passionately about the Island and never forgot his friends.
It is difficult to believe
Renee Balter Oak BluffsIt is difficult to believe that Ron is gone. We have lost a truly great man and a wonderful friend. He was a one of a kind. Always there when needed and willing to help whenever called upon. My deepest condolences to his family and friends.
Oh no. A real mensch. May
Bill Young BostonOh no. A real mensch. May his memory be a blessing.
I am shocked, RIP … so sad
Robert EdgartownI am shocked, RIP … so sad great guy!!!
So many to young people passing lately…
I am sorry to hear the news!
Bill Walsh BostonI am sorry to hear the news! We lost the best!! A true legend!!! Thank you Ron RIP.
This is not the forum, but I have lost so many health friends post Covid…makes me sad :(
What a shock,
Marion h. West tisburyWhat a shock,
What a man! I am so sorry for all of us;
I feel like the island has become untethered
In a way
Because Ron kept us grounded with his hard work and his keen understanding of island life
I will miss his presence here
RIP Ron
I worked with Ron both in Oak
Adam Wilson Leesburg, FLI worked with Ron both in Oak Bluffs, where I was the town's Zoning Administrator for 5 years and in Aquinnah, where I was Town Manager for 7. he was just the consummate professional who protected the Vineyard Community from those who would continually try and diminish the island's precious resources. I hope he has many bike trails to ride and views similar to the ones he had cycling from his Chilmark home...
Such shocking and sad news
Albert Fischer West TisburySuch shocking and sad news for our Island. Ron was a champion among men and such a vital counsel for our Martha’s Vineyard Island. I will miss seeing him riding his bicycle with his hair bulging out from under his helmet, there was no mistaking that it was Ron on his bike.
I will miss tooting my horn and seeing his smile and hand wave in my rear view mirror.RIP my friend.
Ron was a man of true
Gabrielle West TisburyRon was a man of true integrity, we are the benefactors of all his work. He was a true character and a very kind man.
Ron was our ever present and
Maureen AquinnahRon was our ever present and dependable guiding light- an invested voice of reason amidst challenging and changeable times.
He will be greatly missed.
The Massachusetts Municipal
Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association HinghamThe Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association, a bar association of local government lawyers of which Ron was a longtime and much admired member, expresses its sincere sympathy on Ron’s sad passing. There is likely no area of municipal law that Ron had not experienced over his outstanding career. He was often sought out by other municipal lawyers for his sage counsel and advice, which he freely shared. A true gentleman who did so much for the community he loved. May his memory be a blessing for his family, friends and his beloved Martha’s Vineyard.
We are so sad to learn of Ron
Jim and Cindy Lampke Hull, MAWe are so sad to learn of Ron's passing. He was a wonderful person and will be missed. I value my conversations with him on legal matters and his friendship. Please accept our sincere condolences. May his memory be a blessing for this family and friends.
My hope is that Ronnie and
Tom Engley West TisburyMy hope is that Ronnie and Tony Fisher are playing golf somewhere beautiful. I hate this news. Love To Jane Julia and Alan and Susan.
Unimaginably sad and shocking
Peter Sacks west tisburyUnimaginably sad and shocking loss of a truly incomparable person — part of this island now and forever in the hearts and minds of so many who loved and admired him, and who will always treasure his advice, humor, affection and calm wisdom. With a heavy heart and love for Jane and the family. May we live up to his memory.
Ron: We were connected from
Jessica Wolfe & Tom Bloch WellesleyRon: We were connected from birth, from our fathers on. A friend, a brother, a counselor of sage advice. Your mark on so much is forever. I guess you will never get that haircut! Our deepest condolences to Jane, Julia and the whole family. Sending much love to you.
In tears at this moment. I
B A Hiller S. CA, Bethany NCH, De, EdgartownIn tears at this moment. I won a $25 bet with him at Morning Glory Farm , summer of '13. He was a kind, funny "professor " legal counselor that helped me many time. Would always return a call. Had capable, professional, effective and dedicated devotion to families on the island
Mrs. Rappaport and family: May friends and family divide your grief and multiply joy at this difficult time. His smile, twinkle in his eye and perfect advice will be sorely missed. Rest in Peace. Truly hope that Ron knew how beloved he was and is. I appreciate the memory of each time we spoke, his immeasurable help & wise counsel with my family and business issues will stay with me always. Sincere condolences.
Beth Ann Hiller
This is horrible
Patty Kendall VINEYARD HAVENThis is horrible heartbreaking news that I do not want to believe! I feel so sad for his wife Jane and family.
We have lost our North Star
Liza Williamson West TisburyWe have lost our North Star to which all things were measured: brilliance, friendship, humor, loyalty and heart. There is not one piece of the island that Ron’s light failed to touch in some way. His legacy has been forever embedded in this island, and in all who were blessed to know him.
Beautifully said Liza. An
Jill Robie-Axtell Vineyard HavenBeautifully said Liza. An incredibly, smart, thoughtful, humble man. A teacher, mentor, counselor. A blessing to the island.
This sad news reached me in
Pam ( Main) Heaphy West Haven, CTThis sad news reached me in CT. “Condolences” doesn’t seem like a strong enough word, but it’s the one I know: My condolences to Jane and Julia. The island lost an icon, but you’ve lost so much more.
A prince among gentlemen.
kenneth rose BrooksA prince among gentlemen.
Truly shocking. What a loss.
Louisa and Chris West TisburyTruly shocking. What a loss. Are thoughts are with you, Jane and Julia.
A brilliant lawyer and
Rick Manley ChappyA brilliant lawyer and champion of the Vineyard. An immeasurable loss.
Such sad and shocking news.
barbara Kassel west tisburySuch sad and shocking news. I can see him in my mind’s eye with that great twinkle in his eyes. He loved and embraced life, the island and all its concerns. Such a kind, honest, warm, funny and smart man. We will all miss him so much. Our condolences to Jane and his family. Difficult unimaginable time. Our hearts are with you.
I'm so very sorry to hear
Kim Leaird West TisburyI'm so very sorry to hear this sad news. Such a huge loss for the island, but especially for his family. My deepest condolences.
It's so sad to hear of Ron's
Tim Boland West TisburyIt's so sad to hear of Ron's passing. He cared about the Vineyard, and this care was reflected in all of his work activities and kindness. My deepest condolences.
Ronald Rappaport was truly
James Heathman Oak BluffsRonald Rappaport was truly the Island guardian. I feel like he touched every family on this island, one way or another, directly or indirectly, and we are all the better for dedication and understanding how the island works. He will be missed immensely. My prayers and condolences to his family and his brother's Alan's family.
Such a nice Man. RIP
Patty Walsh Greene Oak BluffsSuch a nice Man. RIP
I never knew him but being a
Rick Mac Frankenmuth, MichiganI never knew him but being a cover to cover reader of the Gazette I knew he who he was. I saw him once out side of his office. My first thought wasn’t of his hair, it was here’s a guy on the Vineyard wearing a dress shirt and tie!
What a blow and a loss! Ron
Rosabeth Cambridge and RdgartownWhat a blow and a loss! Ron was devoted and caring and a fierce advocate for Vineyard interests. He showed up for his clients and always for his friends. My heart goes out to his beloved Jane and family.
I was first introduced to Ron
Gary Foster AquinnahI was first introduced to Ron Rappaport when we bought our home in Aquinnah. What I thought was a simple purchase became a challenging transaction as he discovered there was a slice of land through the property that had no title and if not resolved, the house actually would have been deemed illegally built. Of course, Ron figured it out. Over the next 25. years Ron became a close friend, a trusted advisor, a Pan Mass bike riding partner, and someone I loved hanging out with. He cared deeply about the Vineyard and spent his life trying to make it a better place for everyone. His loss is devastating. My heart goes out to Jane, Julia, Alan, Jill and the entire Rapaport family. May his memory be a blessing.
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