HOLLISTON — John F. Corridan III, 50, of Holliston, died Sunday, July 11, 2004, at home, after a long battle with cancer.
He was the husband of Linda (Bowler) Corridan.
He was the son of Margaret (Shea) Corridan, formerly of Chicopee, and the late John F. Corridan Jr.
Mr. Corridan attended Cathedral High School in Springfield and went on to St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., where he met his future wife, a nursing student from Pittsfield. They married soon after graduation and returned to Springfield where he began working with delinquent youth. He obtained a master’s degree in criminal justice from American International College and was soon employed as a caseworker with the Department of Youth Services.
In 1979, Mr. Corridan moved to the Boston area to accept an appointment as executive assistant to the commissioner of DYS. This began a 12-year period during which he held increasingly responsible positions in state government. Within a few years, Mr. Corridan was in charge of all DYS administration and finance activities.
He became the public face of DYS in several controversial battles. As DYS sought to develop a secure juvenile facility in Springfield, he attended dozens of highly charged community meetings to hear neighbors’ concerns. At the end of the year-long process, the Springfield newspaper described him as classy and unflappable.
In 1987, he became assistant commissioner of the newly created Department of Mental Retardation. During his years at DMR, Corridan became a familiar figure at the State House. He left DMR in 1991 to become director of troubled Middlesex County Hospital, leading a turnaround of the hospital and urging the county commissioners to sell it so it could be put on a stable footing. With health care professionals aware of his work at Middlesex, he joined the board of the Massachusetts Hospital Association. He joined Advantage Health, a public company, and became CEO of its flagship institution, New England Rehabilitation Hospital in Woburn.
After Advantage was sold in 1995, he joined Olympus Healthcare Group. In 1999, Mr. Corridan co-founded Alliance Health, a nonprofit health care company in Newton and was chief operating officer until his death.
Active in community affairs in Holliston, he coached youth basketball and was a member of the Holliston Youth Soccer Association board of directors as well as the Holliston Lions Club.
Besides his wife, a registered nurse who oversaw his care during his illness, he leaves three children, Elizabeth, John F. IV and Anna Corridan.
A funeral Mass will be held Friday, July 16, at 10 a.m., at St. Mary’s in Holliston.
Burial will follow in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Holliston.
Visiting hours are Wednesday, July 14, at Corridan Funeral Home in Chicopee from 3 to 7 p.m., and again on Thursday, at Chesmore Funeral Home on Washington Street in Holliston, from 3 to 8 p.m.
Instead of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be sent to the Colon and Rectal Research and Education Fund at Lahey Clinic, attn: Dr. David Schoetz, 41 Mall Road, Burlington, MA 01805; or MetroWest Hospice, 85 Lincoln St., Framingham, MA 01702.