Transportation Community Mourns Loss of Local Transit Planner

Patrick Cory LaVigne died of natural causes at the age of 42 on June 12, 2012, at his home in Oakland, California. He was the son of Patricia Lane Sawyer and Larry Harold LaVigne.

Cory – as he was known to his friends – was born on April 10, 1970, in Dekalb, Illinois, and graduated from Northern Illinois University in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. In his professional life, he experienced meteoric advancement, beginning in 1991 as a bus driver for ATC/Vancom in Illinois and eventually becoming the Director of Service Development and Planning for AC Transit in Oakland, California.

He made the move from bus driver to service planner in 1998 when he came to California to take a position with ATC/Vancom as Interim General Manager of Operations, and later became a transit planner at the Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA). While at LAVTA, Cory managed a number of significant capital projects, and successfully implemented the agency's Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system, which involved developing relationships with local police and fire workers to maximize the use of the system's security capabilities. In 2007, he was hired at AC Transit as a Senior Transportation Planner, and later was promoted to Director of Service Development and Planning. While at AC Transit, he was instrumental in obtaining $10.5 million for improvements along Oakland's Route 51 corridor (College Avenue, Broadway and Santa Clara Avenue).

Cory loved to cook and entertain, and he recently took up stained glass work. He had a love of music and was a fan of drum corps (particularly the Phantom Regiment of Rockfort, Illinois). Although he worked in the field of public transit, his preferred mode of travel was by scooter. Cory was well respected and well liked by his professional colleagues and his many friends. He was known as someone who laughed and smiled easily, and he exhibited that spirit both at work and at home. He enjoyed a diversity of opinion, ethnicity, and culture, which is why he loved living in Oakland.

He is survived by his partner of five and a half years, Joel Gingrich of Oakland, California; his half brother, Bob LaVigne, of Cortland, Illinois; and his Uncle, Jim Sawyer, of Monticello, Indiana.