Raymond E. Griffiths, 87
Raymond E. Griffiths, formerly of East Liverpool, Ohio, died January 11, 2020. Born on June 11, 1932 in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, he was a son of the late C. Gordon Griffiths, Sr. and Elizabeth Oates Griffiths.
Ray was a graduate of East Liverpool High School in 1950. He was active in sports and also served as President of his Senior Class.
In the fall of 1950, he entered Bethany College, Bethany, West Virginia. During his junior year, a faculty committee awarded him the Kennedy Prize as outstanding junior man. While at Bethany College, Ray was a member of Psi Chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity and was elected its president in 1953. During his senior year, he was selected by the College to compete for a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University and thereafter was chosen as a candidate and finalist from West Virginia. He graduated with honors in June 1954 and entered Case Western Reserve University School of Law that fall with a scholarship. During his law school days, he was a member of the Law Review and was elected to the Order of Coif for outstanding scholarship.
Ray began to practice as an attorney in 1957 and joined Samuel Krugliak in Canton where they began a Business and Labor Law practice. In 1964, a law partnership, Krugliak and Griffiths, was formed. Thereafter, Ronald Dougherty became a partner and later F. Stuart Wilkins joined the partnership, creating the law firm of Krugliak, Wilkins, Griffiths & Dougherty. Ray continued to practice law in Canton for more than 50 years until his retirement in 2010 as a founding partner at the firm.
In 1986, Case Western Reserve University School of Law admitted Ray to membership in the Society of Benchers in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the legal profession. Ray also enjoyed teaching and for many years was a part-time faculty member at Walsh University (formerly Walsh College) lecturing in Business Law and Labor Law. As a part of his interest in education, Ray was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Stark County District Library for many years and served as its President. He was active at the State level as well, serving as a member of the Board of Trustees of the State of Ohio Library System. In recent years, he was a founding member of the Stark County District Library Foundation Board.
Ray was a member of the Westbrook Park United Methodist Church and served on the initial Board of Trustees of the East Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church following the merger of the Methodist Church and the First EUB Church. He served on the Boards of the Red Cross Canton Chapter, Family Service Society and Counsel of Churches.
Above all things in life, Ray loved his wife Carole McFeaters Griffiths. The couple met at Bethany in 1951 and were married for 57 years. Together they were summer residents of the Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, New York for over forty years. They learned to sail on Lake Chautauqua and spent the afternoons on their Lightning Sailboat. Carole passed away February 19, 2011.
He is survived by his son, Garth Griffiths and his wife, Julie, of Rowayton, Connecticut. He also leaves a sister, JoAnn Griffiths Hathaway and her husband, Jim, of Fairfax Station, Virginia, and a brother, C. Gordon Griffiths, Jr. of East Liverpool. Several nieces and nephews of Ohio, Texas and New Jersey also survive.
In addition to his parents and wife, he was preceded in death by a son, David Griffiths and a sister, Carrie Catherine Williams.
Private services were held for the immediate family. Burial was at Riverview Cemetery in East Liverpool. The Dawson Funeral Home was entrusted with funeral arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in the names of Ray and Carole Griffiths to the Stark County Humane Society, P.O. Box 7077, Canton, Ohio 44705, or to the Stark County District Library Foundation in care of the Stark County Main Library, 715 Market Ave. North, Canton, Ohio 44702.