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Biography of Ray Shamie |
from NewsLink, Vol. 3, No. 4, Summer 1999
Over the span of a lifetime,” Ray Shamie once wrote, “I have observed the hardships of severe economic depression, the devastation of war and the inequalities of the human condition. I have marveled at the ability of the American people to rebound, to overcome adversity, and to move ahead once again.”
Only a man who had lived a full life as an entrepreneur, an innovator, a political leader, a veteran, a philanthropist and a family man could find comfort in waging a battle against adversity and indifference. Ray Shamie, the industrialist, was a self-made man because he persevered. He believed in the power of ideas. And, most important, he believed in the endurance of timeless ideas such as freedom and responsibility.
He could see opportunity where others saw only crisis. He believed that individuals, left unimpeded, could create a better, more inclusive and prosperous civil society. He maintained that the family played the most important role in educating and molding character and that no society could flourish without it. His devotion to his wife of 56 years, Edna, and to his family testify to those values.
As an entrepreneur, he created jobs for hundreds of people and as a philanthropist, he contributed millions to charities. Moreover, he used his resources in the service of his beliefs. He sowed the seeds of an intellectual revolution in Massachusetts by establishing think tanks that would nudge the Commonwealth toward freer markets and smaller government.
Ray Shamie succumbed to cancer at his Naples, Florida home on June 8 of this year. His legacy is formidable, extending over the world of business, politics and philanthropy.
In commerce, he relentlessly pursued the invention of new products when others doubted their market appeal. In politics, taking on an equally Sisyphean task, he answered the call to fill a void when others declined; he ran twice as a Republican for U.S. Senate. His sense of class and dignity won him the respect of both sides of the political aisle. In 1984, David Brudnoy, writing in the National Review, noted the “appeal, decency, and attractiveness” of this businessman-turned-candidate. Never one to play up his wealth or intelligence, Ray Shamie never lost the human touch; his first campaign’s political slogan was, “You can call me Ray!”
A Man of Progress
Born in Brooklyn in 1921, Ray Shamie’s early years were not easy. His father died in a traffic accident while he was in high school. An exceptional student, young Shamie put his education on hold to find a job during the Great Depression. That in itself was no easy task.
Through the help of a family friend he found work at the Horn and Hardart automat mopping floors and busing tables.
While the Great Depression soured many, it molded some of Ray Shamie’s deepest beliefs. “The whole essence of progress, people, the human race, stems from people who strive,” he said. “From their hand has come material progress, such as better food, clothing, housing, transportation, even more leisure time.”
Ray Shamie’s contribution to the wheel of progress came in 1951 when he told his employer, Indian Motorcycle Company, about a niche market he saw developing. His employer was not interested, so Ray Shamie borrowed money from family and friends to start his own company. Metal Bellows, located in Sharon, Massachusetts, would become a world leader in the production of high precision instruments.
Today, Ray Shamie’s metal bellows are found in NASA space shuttles, jet airliners, nuclear plants and pollution control equipment. The principle that animated the metal bellows later led to the creation of another use: an implantable drug-delivery system called the “infusaid pump.” So profound was his impact in the development of these invaluable and technically sophisticated devices, that the Boston Globe has characterized Ray Shamie as, “A giant in the world of widgets.”
Beyond business
Ray Shamie moved naturally from the world of business to the world of policy. He knew that education was seminal to opening minds. Recognizing the need for better understanding of the free enterprise system, Ray Shamie developed the Executive Forum at Metal Bellows.This consisted of monthly on-the-clock meetings featuring films, speakers and panel discussions. It also included a small resource library of economics texts and a bulletin board for employees to post articles on current events. In 1981, Industry Week magazine recognized Ray Shamie for his efforts to promote a better understanding of the private enterprise system.
Ray Shamie entered politics reluctantly, but once he did, he gave it his all. Understanding that Massachusetts voters must have legitimate choices when it came to electing their leaders, he undertook the formidable challenge of reinvigorating the Republican Party in Massachusetts. Twice this required his running for U.S. Senate; first in 1982 against incumbent Senator Edward Kennedy and again in 1984 against John Kerry. Though he didn’t win either election, he wasn’t deterred. He accepted the chairmanship of the Massachusetts Republican Party. His efforts were in large part responsible for a remarkable victory in 1990: the new governor, lieutenant governor and treasurer headed the list of winners with “R” after their names. The 1990 victories remain the high-water mark of recent Republican politics in Massachusetts.
A humanitarian’s soul
Ray Shamie never really retired; he just moved on. His agile mind and unrelenting commitment to conservative principles made his move into the world of public policy research natural if not inevitable. After witnessing the births of organizations including the Pioneer Institute, in 1991 he founded the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University. He understood the value of good ideas grounded in rigorous analysis.
Ray Shamie possessed an engineer’s mind but a humanitarian’s soul. He was himself a living example of the power of self-help, hard work and a belief that life can be made better. Having lived through hard economic times, he was keenly aware of the plight of the disadvantaged in society. And he remembered the help he had received when he needed his first job.
He therefore encouraged the study of engaging citizens in helping the poor, whom he believed could be helped best through personal, caring and disciplined intervention. He believed that local, community charitable organizations could rescue lives better than overburdened government bureaucracy. Thus for more than seven years, he cultivated the idea of empowering these organizations through giving federal and state tax credits for taxpayers’ contributions to these organizations. He was the godfather of the Beacon Hill Institute’s project, “Welfare Reform: The Next Generation.”
“Ray might rail against what he used to call the corrupt, liberal welfare state,” said Governor A. Paul Cellucci in his eulogy. “But at the very same time, he took a keen interest in the problems that these liberal ideas were meant to address. Ray Shamie obsessed about finding conservative solutions that liberals claimed as their own, because he felt these problems were everyone’s problems… Ray Shamie was the original compassionate conservative.”
Through his curiosity, intelligence, and generosity, Ray Shamie showed his fellow citizens what the world might look like when business experience intersects with good public policy ideas.
We are all better off for his having been among us.
NewsLink is the quarterly newsletter of the Beacon Hill Institute for Public Policy Research at Suffolk University. © 1996-2003. All rights reserved. Revised on 03-Jul-2003 11:41 AM