Jay W. LaPlante, 49, of Stoney Drive in North Smithfield, died Sunday in Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston. He was the beloved husband of Terri A. (Brown) LaPlante. They had been married 23 years.
Born in Warwick, a son of Jean A. and Judith D. (Congdon) LaPlante of Coventry. He had lived in North Smithfield since 2003, previously living in Cranston. He had graduated from Tollgate class of 1985 and studied at Bentley College graduating class of 1989 and his MBA in 1997. He had been a banker with Citizen’s Bank.
Jay was an avid swimmer, participating in several swimming races including the Save the Bay. He was a perpetual entrepreneur, always working on projects and ideas to come up with the “next best thing”. But his greatest accomplishment was being a loving husband to his wife and an amazing father to his children. Whether it was watching Max complete in golf tournaments, or attending the concerts and theatre performances of Madeleine and Grace, he always put his family first. Much to their embarrassment, when dropping the children off at school, he would loudly shout out of the car window “You’re awesome!” He was a true believer in the power of positivity and was the ultimate optimist in all areas of his life.
Besides his wife and parents, he leaves his children, Max W. LaPlante, Madeleine D. LaPlante and Grace O. LaPlante all of North Smithfield, his sisters, Jill D. Alexander of North Kingstown, Jonna L. Ianiero of Coventry and Jaclyn H. LaPlante-Beauchmin of North Kingstown.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Saturday at 10:30am in St. John the Evangelist, 63 Church Street, Slatersville. Burial will be private. Visitation to which relatives and friends are invited will be held Friday 4-8pm in the Anderson-Winfield Funeral Home, Route 44 at Greenville Common, Greenville. In lieu of flowers, we kindly ask that you consider becoming an organ donor, as Jay died while waiting for a heart transplant.