The ABC community is mourning the loss of Ray Shortino, a longtime member of the Empire State Chapter who died with his wife and two close friends in a small-plane crash in upstate New York Aug. 7. Ray joined ABC in the early 1980s, chairing the Rochester regional council for years and the local chapter in 2001 and 2002. He also was a longstanding member of the ABC National Board of Directors and active on several committees.

Ray founded the Radec Corp., an industrial and commercial electrical contracting firm, in Rochester in 1971. He began transitioning ownership of the company to his son Mark as he moved toward retirement in the mid-2000s. Ray is remembered as a champion of ABC and a devoted advocate of the merit philosophy who frequently told his fellow members, “Get into politics or get out of business!”

Condolences to all who knew him.

Read his obituary in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.