HAVERHILL — He quietly saved lives.
All it took was for A. Raymond Tye to hear about a young person with health problems and he dug into his own pocket to help. He used money from his personal accounts and his foundation to pay for a 34-hour surgery that separated conjoined Egyptian twins, help a Boston family pay for the funeral of its slain 10-year-old, and treat an injured child from Iraq.
Tye, a Haverhill native known as "Ray,'' died of cancer Wednesday at his Cambridge home. He was 87.
Tye is being remembered for his charitable work, but Lewis Gack of Andover said he was just a regular guy and loved to help people in need.
"He went about it in a very quiet way," said Gack, who is involved in the Tye foundation and worked with him for 40 years. "He never wanted a parade."
Tye was a 1940 graduate of Haverhill High School and a successful businessman.
When he turned 80, he and his wife, Eileen, started the Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation, to help people with life-threatening illnesses, primarily destitute children. During the past seven years, the foundation has given away millions of dollars to help people worldwide receive health care in the Boston medical community.
Gack said Tye would often read someone's story in a newspaper and be compelled to help them.
In August 2008, he helped Frank Matos Lopez, a 9-month-old from the Dominican Republic, receive lifesaving open-heart surgery at Children's Hospital in Boston. Tye got involved when Louis Farrah, a Lawrence attorney, spent weeks trying to raise money to save the baby after a friend asked for help.
The baby, who became known in the community as "Baby Frank," suffered from a heart condition known as blue baby syndrome, which prevents oxygen from reaching organs and tissues, resulting in a bluish skin tint and poor health.
But Baby Frank's family couldn't afford the 14-day hospital stay that was expected to cost $78,000. Gack read a story in The Eagle-Tribune detailing Baby Frank's plight and put Farrah in touch with Terri Carlson, the director of Tye's foundation.
Farrah said Baby Frank was in grave condition and that he was desperate to raise the money needed to save the child's life, when he sent Carlson information about the baby's situation. Despite multiple fundraising efforts, it wasn't looking like enough money would be collected, he said.
"Within an hour, I got a return call from (Carlson)," Farrah said yesterday. "She told me, 'Mr. Tye said bring me the baby.' It was his way of saying he would help take care of it."
Baby Frank was flown in from the Dominican Republic by Angel Flight for the surgery. He also underwent a second lifesaving surgery at International Children's Hospital in Virginia, both of which were successful.
Farrah said the baby would have died if the foundation didn't intervene. He said he got to meet Tye in his office after Baby Frank's surgery. Tye wanted to meet the baby.
"We walked into his office with the baby he had saved and you could see great joy," Farrah said. "I asked him what I could do and he said, 'Make sure that this boy understands the greatest gift in life is to help others.'"
Frank's aunt, Lillian Marte, lives in Lawrence. He is the only child of Mareanelle Marte, and her husband, Francisco Lopez, who live in San Francisco de Marcoris in the eastern part of the Dominican Republic. Lillian Marte said she will forever regard Tye "as another father" to the baby.
Tye grew up in a triple-decker at 18 Fountain St. in Haverhill. He served in World War II as a lieutenant in the military police assigned to France and then as an adjutant to Gen. George Patton.
After being injured, he returned home to work in his parents' Haverhill shoe factory before taking a job with United Liquors in Boston. He worked his way up and later bought the company. He spent 57 years running the business that he built into one of the largest liquor distributors in the region. The company was sold in 2006, but Tye stayed involved as chairman emeritus.
"He was a very inspiring man," Gack said. "If you worked for him, you would never want to let him down. He brought the best out of people."
His foundation was launched after his son died of cancer. Michael Tye, 52, was a marathon runner stricken with multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the plasma cells.
Rabbi Ira Korinow of Temple Emanu-El in Haverhill said he knew Tye through his relatives, who attended the temple for years. Korinow said Tye was not only one of the most successful businessmen in Greater Boston, but also one of the most giving.
He said Tye not only wrote checks, but was interested in meeting and interacting with the people he helped.
"Ray was very successful in what he did and he was able to take the Jewish values that he learned growing up and apply it to his everyday life," Korinow said. "He reached out to help those who were in desperate need and did what he could and it didn't matter their background.''
Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini said he didn't know Tye personally, but knows several members of the Tye family and was aware of Tye's many charitable contributions.
"He was quite a hero," said Fiorentini. "He dedicated his life to providing medical care to the needy and he did whatever he could to help others.''
Farrah said he is trying to arrange for Mareanelle Marte and Baby Frank to fly in from the Dominican Republic to attend the funeral so "people can see one of the many lives Mr. Tye has saved."
Tye is survived by his wife and four children. He is the younger brother of the late Dr. Mauray Tye, who practiced medicine in the city for 40 years.
Gack said the work of Tye's foundation will continue. His funeral will be at Congregation Mishkan Tefila, 300 Hammond Pond Parkway in Chestnut Hill, on Monday at 11 a.m. Burial will follow at Children of Israel Cemetery on Middle Road in Haverhill. The family will receive visitors in the Abbey Room of the Boston Public Library, McKim Building, on Monday from 4 to 8 p.m. and Tuesday from 2 to 8 p.m.
More information on the foundation is available at www.rtmaf.org.
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