Trade union leader, longest serving legislator
By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current
Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, the State House’s longest-serving member, died early Monday morning following a battle with cancer, according to a statement from his office. He was 76.
Photo by Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current
“It is with deepest sorrow that we announce the passing of Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio earlier this morning,” the statement said. “We are so grateful for the love and support of his friends and colleagues. Throughout his illness, Donny fought valiantly, just as he always had for his constituents and the residents of Rhode Island.”
The North Providence Democrat was hospitalized at Our Lady of Fatima Hospital last week for a bad reaction to his treatment — returning less than five weeks after he was released from the same hospital and rehabilitation center for pneumonia.
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi said he was “heartbroken,” referring to Ruggerio as his “dear friend” in a statement Monday morning.
“I had enormous respect and admiration for his dedication and leadership,” Shekarchi said. “Even through his illness, we communicated on nearly a daily basis about the important issues facing our state. Donny devoted his life to the people of Rhode Island, which will always be his legacy. This is the end of an era at the State House, where Donny was a true giant for well over four decades, beginning his career in the House in 1981 before moving to the Senate four years later. On behalf of the House of Representatives, we extend our deepest sympathies to his family and his Senate colleagues, and we will miss him greatly.”
paiRuggerio was absent for a majority of the 2025 sessions, attending just four of the 17 regularly scheduled Senate gatherings since January. He last presided over the chamber’s regular session on March 25.
Similar stretches of absence also characterized his leadership of the upper chamber in 2024, prompting a rival bid for the president role from his former second-in-command, Sen. Ryan Pearson. Ruggerio fended off the challenge with two-thirds of the votes of the Senate’s 34 Democrats. Despite his multiple absences, supporters remained steadfast in their public conviction that Ruggerio was the best pick to lead the chamber.
First elected to represent District 4 spanning parts of Providence and North Providence in 1985, Ruggerio, known to friends and colleagues as “Donny” was considered the “dean” of the Senate as its longest-serving member. The retired administrator for the New England Laborers Labor Management Coop Trust was tapped as majority whip in 2003. He ascended to Senate Majority Leader in 2010 and in 2017, was elected Senate President after former President Teresa Paiva Weed suddenly resigned.
A self-described moderate Democrat, Ruggerio leaned more conservative on gun and abortion issues, though his mindset shifted in his later years in leadership. In 2023, Ruggerio cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee that allowed the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act to advance to the full Senate, where it also passed and was signed into law. This year, he signaled new openness to a state assault weapons ban, which he previously opposed.
He was a strong voice for labor, small business and expanding the state’s legal gambling sector, leading the way for the state’s online sports betting in 2019 and in 2023, virtual slot and table games, or iGaming.
His biography on the General Assembly website highlights his recognition from The Humane Society of the United States, recognizing his efforts to prohibit double-decker horse trailers, as one of the standouts from his many awards and honors.
A lifelong North Providence resident, Ruggerio graduated from LaSalle Academy in 1966. He attended Bryant College but earned a bachelor’s degree in 1974 from Providence College.
He served on the board of the Wanskuck Library and as a member of the Sons of Italy, Loggia Vittoria, and the DaVinci Center Development Committee.
Ruggerio was the father of two children, Charles and Amanda, with his ex-wife, Cynthia, and the grandfather to Ava, Mia, Natalie, and Jameson.
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