John "Jay" S Forte

It’s with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of John Sebastian Forte, who departed this world on August 13, 2024, at the age of 75 years old. He passed at his home in the arms of his family after three years of suffering from Parkinsons and Alzheimer’s Disease.

Jay, as his friends called him, was born in Boston, Massachusetts to parents Santo and Mary Forte on February 15, 1949.

Jay was a second-generation Italian immigrant. He had a beautiful voice. In grammar school, he was thrilled to sing in a choir directed by Arthur Fiedler!  He graduated from Boston Latin, the oldest public school in the USA. Built in 1635, notable Alumni: John Hancock and Sam Adams. The school has produced four Harvard University USA Presidents, four Massachusetts Governors, Five Signers of the USA Declaration of Independence.

Jay’s family wasn’t wealthy, and it was a difficult task on constant study for him to graduate.  Raised in the Catholic Faith, he originally pursued a path to become a Priest. His mother planned on him being a doctor. Stonehill College in South Easton, Massachusetts was his choice. It was a seminary where he would study many religions and enter medical courses. He switched to retail by the time he graduated and married Christina in 1970.

At that time, he had a low number to join the service during the Vietnam War. He chose the Navy to become a corpsman. He didn’t believe in war, nor did he want to carry a gun.

After the service, Jay took one semester at MIT to further his studies in medicine, and finally decided that retail was his passion.  He actually worked with Al Marshal unloading trucks. After a few years, he was courted to work with TJ Maxx, which lasted until 1997.

Jay touched the hearts of many and inspired people to excel in business and get involved with the community.

His professional life was marked by his dedication and hard work during his tenure at TJ Maxx toward early education with Dallas for Children and PBS. While employed as a Southwest Regional Vice President, he served on the Board of Directors, Dallas and Visitors Bureau; joined many Chambers and leadership classes in Plano and Dallas; asked to contribute his expertise on advisory boards for UTD, UNT, LULAC, Hendrick, and GLBT.

He truly made a difference and believed in equality.  Jay was a self-made man, an entrepreneur, buying Employment News and selling it, producing Valiente, a Latino magazine in 2001, starting American Language Technologies 2002-2017, which his son, Christopher, has continued.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Christina Forte; children Christopher and William Forte; his sister, Maria Forte of Bridgewater, Massachusetts; his brother Ronald Forte of Ft Collins, Colorado. Jay’s legacy lives on through his cherished grandchildren, Victoria, Sophia, and Christian Forte and many loving cousins.

There will be an Evening of Remembrance to celebrate Jay’s life on Monday, October 14, 2024, from 5-7:00 pm at Allen Family Funeral Options with spoken words by Father Tom Cloherty, Plano Symphony quartet, and others who would like to pay tribute.

If desired, contributions may be made in Jay’s name to Hendrick Scholarships, LULAC Scholarships, PSO Education Program.