Dorothy Licht, former RI first lady, dies at home

PROVIDENCE − Former Rhode Island First Lady Dorothy Licht died Sunday morning at age 101.

The widow of former Gov. Frank Licht, who served two terms as governor from 1969 to 1973, she was still very much "up on what was happening," according to her nephew, Superior Court Judge Richard Licht, who conveyed word of her death at her Providence home, where she continued to live "very independently" until the end.

In 2021, when she marked a century of life, The Journal caught up with the former first lady.

She was by her husband's side during the year he worked as a Superior Court judge, a state senator and eventually the man in charge at the State House, and said she particularly "liked the governorship because I’m a sightseer.

"I got to see all parts of Rhode Island that I wouldn’t ever have seen as an ordinary citizen,” she said, reflecting on a time when “the little towns had as much power as the city because they were small but they were many and could control the Senate very easily.”

After her husband died in 1987, her charitable work continued, including involvement with the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the Rhode Island Philharmonic and the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.

In her husband’s honor, Licht also started a lecture series at Brown University that has featured a cadre of high-powered names from President Barack Obama to Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Adam Schiff.

"These days, Licht takes life day by day, now feeling the limitations of age and the shrinking of her social circle that naturally occurs as one grows older," The Journal wrote at the time.

But she remained a devoted supporter of U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, who tweeted about her on Sunday:

"Dorothy Licht will be remembered not only for being a great neighbor and friend, but for all she gave back to RI. Her work supported our incredible arts community, helped our most vulnerable neighbors and inspired countless students and future leaders. May she rest in peace."

From Andrew Schiff, CEO of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, came this reminiscence: "The Food Bank clearly meant a lot to Dotty. She was a board member, honorary board member, loyal donor and always a source of guidance for me.

"Early in my time at the Food Bank, she saw me read a speech at a news conference. She came up afterwards and said, 'Next time, put away the papers and speak from the heart.' From then on, I followed Dotty's advice. I will miss her very much. "

The Lichts had three children: Beth Laramee, who died in 2021; Carol Kanin of Newton, Massachusetts, and Judy Licht of Washington, D.C.

Right up to the end, when she succumbed to what her daughter and son-in-law Carol and Dennis Kanin described as a "COVID-related illness," they said: she read newspapers (plural), dashed off emails on her computer and remained involved in a long list of charities, including "her passion," the Food Bank.

On Sunday, Carol Kanin said, "She lived in the same 20-block radius all her life ... She was someone who took joy and pleasure in everything about Rhode Island, and she experienced it."

"She said on her 90th birthday that she was a very lucky woman."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Former RI First Lady Dorothy Licht dies at 101