Frank Carroll of Worcester, business leader and advocate for veterans, dies

Francis “Frank” R. Carroll, a Worcester resident and philanthropist who supported the city’s businesses, has died.

Worcester City Manager Eric Batista announced Carroll’s death Wednesday evening, writing that Carroll was a “champion for small businesses.”

“Frank came from humble beginnings and worked his entire life to make Worcester a better place to live,” Batista wrote. “We are grateful for the gifts he left behind.”

A native of Worcester’s Vernon Hill neighborhood, Carroll founded the Small Business Service Bureau in Worcester in 1968 to provide benefits to small businesses and advocate at the state and national levels to lower the cost of health insurance. He was also involved in the development of Federal Square, purchasing the Dexter, Academy and Vuona buildings on Main Street and investing in facade renovations.

Carroll has also been involved in efforts to raise money for the St. John’s Food for the Poor Program to build the St. Francis Xavier Center, a soup kitchen and food pantry, and to build a Living Memorial Hospital in Vietnam in honor of men from Central Asia. Massachusetts killed or missing in action in Vietnam. The hospital, built in 1967, is still open.

“We are so fortunate to have honored him with the Frank Carroll Plaza for Hanover while he was enjoying securing his legacy,” Mayor Joseph Petty wrote in a statement Thursday. “Worcester is a better place because of the work he has done and he will be truly missed.”

Carroll was 89 years old, according to a Petty spokesperson.

Carroll was also an early supporter and co-founder of the team that renovated the Hanover Theater. In 2008, a square in front of the Hannover Theater was dedicated to him. In 2023the plaza was redesigned to include a towering art installation and the Bank of America Stage for performances.

“As an entrepreneur, advocate and philanthropist, Frank was a natural founder and board member of The Hanover Theater and Conservatory,” the Theater wrote on its website. Facebook page. “His continued support and dedication to Worcester and THT have helped shape our organization into what it is today.”