April 14, 2020
Sgt. Major Gary P. Fortunato ’00SCE: A soldier and patriot who molded leaders
By Charles C. Joyce
Duty. Honor. Country.
Hundreds of student-cadets from Providence College and other area colleges can attest that these themes were a lifelong ethos for U.S. Army Sgt. Major (retired) Gary P. Fortunato ’00SCE.
A revered mentor and “father figure” in the College’s Army ROTC Patriot Battalion for more than two decades, Sgt. Major Fortunato died unexpectedly on April 3 at his home in Pepperell, Mass. The Department of Military Science instructor and operations officer served the Army for 53 years. That included a 30-year, active-duty career with service in Vietnam and in operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
He earned more than a dozen awards and citations, including the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device, Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendations Medal, and the Rhode Island Star.
Sgt. Major Fortunato taught the Foundations of Leadership I and II courses to second-year cadets every fall and spring, respectively. Each day he arrived early in the department’s office in Alumni Hall — after making the 90-minute-plus commute.
As operations specialist, he performed an assortment of behind-the-scenes tasks, from organizing drills and ceremonies to arranging color guards for Friars’ basketball and hockey games, parades, and other events. Every summer, he led the Patriot Battalion’s junior cadets in their Advanced Camp training, currently held at Fort Knox in Kentucky, though he stayed the entire summer assisting nearly 5,000 cadets from approximately 270 other ROTC programs from across the country.
“Gary was always going, from the crack of dawn. He was just the best, always smiling,” said Lorraine Ciorlano ’13SCE, the department’s administrative assistant, who arrived at PC in 1995, two years before him. “He did just about everything in the office. You would count on him for anything.”
Nowhere was Sgt. Major Fortunato’s focus more riveted than on “his” cadets and their development in character, skills, and leadership, Ciorlano and Patriot Battalion associates said. In his 23 years at PC, Sgt. Major Fortunato was an integral part in the development of every commissioned officer — or approximately 350 students.
“His gift to each group of young men and women discerning military life was to find out where they were at” for the good of the battalion and the Army,” said Rhode Island National Guard Lt. Col. Michael P. Manning ’97 & ’08Hon. The Patriot Battalion, whose history includes a Presidential Citation, has built a strong reputation nationally among ROTC programs in large part aided by Sgt. Major Fortunato’s commitment to teaching Army and personal values, added Manning, who taught with him during the 2003-04 academic year.
“It’s about taking care of people, loving your people,” said Manning, who is a National Security Fellow at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. “It was his entire life … a life of service. You’re talking about a generation and a half of students. It was kind of magical. He met them, brought them in the fold, and they became committed to and lived the Army values.”
Sgt. Major Fortunato was direct with cadets in shaping them into future Army officers, said Rev. Iriarte Andújar, O.P., associate dean of admission and Patriot Battalion chaplain for the past 20 years. “He believed in what he was doing as a soldier for the country” and tried to impart that mindset to them, he said.
“His eyes were on the future of the cadets and the importance of their role to the country,” continued Father Iri. “He would inculcate a sense of the value of their worth and what they needed to become.” If that meant “reading them the riot act” if cadets weren’t responding or behaving appropriately, that’s something he would readily do.
“For many of them, he was a father figure,” he said.
Abigail M. Kojoian ’21 (Cranston, R.I.) saw Sgt. Major Fortunato’s committed nature shortly after enrolling in ROTC the first semester of her sophomore year. “I immediately learned that he embodied the values and exemplified the leadership for which I was striving,” she said.
In class this academic year, it was clear to Kojoian that Sgt. Major Fortunato wanted her classmates and her “to excel in every endeavor and to lead by example.” She recalled that during the leadership course lab last fall, he questioned her understanding of a mission involving casualties and asked her to explain how she would evaluate a wounded soldier. It was important to him that each cadet knew their contribution to the mission, said Kojoian.
“He provided each cadet with the skills to critically examine everything we did, and he motivated us with the constant implication of ‘I know you can do better,’” she said, adding that “his high standards became even more evident” this academic year.
Another cadet whom Sgt. Major Fortunato taught, R.I. National Guard Capt. Daniel J. Girouard ’16G, PC assistant professor of military science and recruiting operations officer, said the Army veteran influenced his life in several circumstances. “He made me who I am. I wouldn’t have contracted or commissioned if it wasn’t for Gary,” said Girouard.
One instance was in 2004 when Girouard was trying to find direction in life while attending the Community College of Rhode Island, a member school of the Patriot Battalion. At the onset of joining the program, Girouard took his physical fitness test alone with Sgt. Major Fortunato in Peterson Recreation Center. Girouard was struggling during the two-mile run and began to stop when Sgt. Major Fortunato urged him to keep running. Upon finishing, Girouard asked if he failed the test. Sgt. Major Fortunato replied, “You didn’t quit; that’s all we need to know.”
Girouard recalled having a fear of heights and public speaking when he joined the battalion in 2004. “Seargant Major walked us through those fears by making us uncomfortable and constantly pushing us. By the end of the year, I was able to negotiate obstacles that were 30 feet high and speak confidently to a formation of 40 cadets,” he said.
Sgt. Major Fortunato aided Girouard in other ways, including suggesting he switch colleges and attend Bryant University, another Patriot Battalion school. Three years later, after Girouard’s military commissioning through Bryant, he encouraged Girouard to seek deployment opportunities to develop himself as a leader. Girouard deployed with the 43rd Military Police Brigade to Afghanistan the next year. Upon Girouard’s return in 2012, he applied for a military science instructor position at PC — at Sgt. Major Fortunato’s suggestion — and began working alongside him a few days later.
“He was the ultimate mentor, the epitome of a non-commissioned officer,” said Girouard, who has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan twice.
As busy as the academic year was, Sgt. Major Fortunato looked forward to the summers and assisting the Patriot Battalion’s junior cadets at Advanced Camp. Cadets’ performance at the five-week training camp as they head into their senior year is considered pivotal to their assignments when they are commissioned at graduation. For nearly 20 years, Sgt. Major Fortunato directed the camp’s Confidence Committee and oversaw the rappelling course. From late May until mid-August, he would run the course for 11 regiments of approximately 650 members each.
“He’s seeing every single kid (at the camp). You’d be hard-pressed to find an officer, past or current, who didn’t know Gary,” marveled his PC colleague, Major Jarred Rickey, an instructor and battalion operations officer. Despite dealing with hundreds of personalities each day, day after day, Sgt. Major Fortunato kept his enthusiasm and commitment, he said.
“It was the kids. That’s what made every day (for him),” said Rickey. Rickey is a former student of his, graduating in 2007 from Rhode Island College, another Patriot Battalion member.
As principled as Sgt. Major Fortunato was, he enjoyed the camaraderie of those in the battalion and beyond, and “he loved to have fun. He appreciated all the right things, in being integral to who you are,” said Father Iri. He was famous for using two words, ambiance and panache, frequently in the company of his sophomore leadership students, and he enjoyed a drink and a cigar with associates.
One of events he enjoyed most was the battalion’s end-of-year military ball. Three years ago, on the occasion of his 50th anniversary in the Army, he was honored with a framed collage of career memorabilia and asked to give the keynote address. Sgt. Major Fortunato remarked that 2017 was the 100th anniversary of the College and the 65th anniversary of ROTC at PC. He expressed gratitude to the College and praised the Dominican community for petitioning the Army in 1952 to host an ROTC program.
He told the senior class and the cadet ranks behind them: “Regardless of the school that you attend, it is this family that cares the most. Never lose sight that you will have come from this program. Never lose sight of the fact that there are Dominican fathers who raised their hands many years ago to welcome all of us home. This will always be that.”
A native of Union City and Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., Sgt. Major Fortunato earned an associate degree in business from Mount Wachusett Community College and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from PC’s School of Continuing Education. He is survived by his wife, Carol (Morrow) Fortunato, four children, six grandchildren, two daughters-in-law, and five siblings.
Funeral services will be held at a later date with full Army military honors.
