Francis W. Madigan, Jr.

WORCESTER - Francis W. (Bud) Madigan, Jr. of Worcester, MA and Bourne, MA, devoted husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother, uncle, and friend passed away at home with his family and longtime caregiver by his side on Saturday, July 25, 2026. He was 95. Affectionately known to family and friends as Bud, Buddy, Buddy Grampa (BG), Uncle Buddy and Papi, he was the beloved husband of the late Mary J. ( Baggan) and son of the late Mildred (LeMoyne) and Francis W. Madigan, Sr.

Bud attended Worcester Classical High (‘48) and completed a post-graduate year at Worcester Academy (‘49), which he acknowledged was a pivotal experience that helped to shape his character, foster a love of learning and spark his love for running. He went on to receive a degree in Civil Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (‘53). At “Tech,” which is how he referred to his alma mater, he was a member of the Theta Kappa Phi fraternity, and a talented four-year member on the Cross Country and Track Teams. Later in life, he served on various alumni boards and reunion committees at both WPI and Worcester Academy, continuing to give back to the schools that helped provide the foundational skills he would use throughout his life.

The summer before enrolling at Tech, Bud made a trip to Hampton Beach, NH, where he met the love of his life Mary Jane (Baggan) who hailed from the small town of Blackstone, MA. They dated for the next four years and when Bud proposed at the fraternity ball his senior year, she said yes. They wed in 1955 and were married for sixty-two years before Mary’s passing in 2018.

After graduating from Tech, Bud’s commitment to serve in the U.S. Army took him to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for basic training and then he was stationed at Camp Gordon in Georgia before returning to Fort Devens in Massachusetts where he was part of the Signal Corps.

After fulfilling service to his country, he returned to Worcester and he began his professional career working at F.W. Madigan Company, a construction firm founded by his father in 1937. During early years at the company, Bud wore many hats from bricklayer (he was a longtime member of the bricklayers union), to surveyor, estimator and project manager, all of which helped him build the skills necessary to lead the company as President for nearly four decades, growing the reputation of the company, and literally and figuratively building the skyline and landscape of the Worcester area and beyond. During this time, he oversaw the construction of public and private schools, financial institutions, houses of worship and numerous other buildings in Central Massachusetts and beyond, including many that received awards from both local and national organizations. Bud also spent many years teaching Construction Estimating and Surveying at Central New England College.

In the 1960s Bud was instrumental in ensuring that F.W. Madigan Company was one of the earliest members of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Massachusetts, and also of the AGC of America. Between 1971-1973 Bud served as the President of AGC of Massachusetts, and then for decades was a proud Board member. He was also elected as a Life Director and served as the Treasurer of the AGC of America in 2000. He was also a Board Member and Chair of the AGC Education and Research Foundation, where he established the Bud and Mary Madigan Scholarship Fund, solidifying his commitment to provide perpetual financial assistance to students studying for careers in construction and engineering. For over 50 years, he and his wife Mary attended conferences and board meetings across the country, building business relationships and lifelong friendships. Bud also was so proud to be a founding board member of Flagship Bank and served many years as a director on the board. He was also the longtime President of the Worcester General Building Contractors Association.

Bud never truly retired, though he passed the reins to his sons in the 90s, who since then have carried forward Bud’s legacy, guiding the company into fourth-generation ownership, staying true to the foundational values that were of great importance to Bud: honesty, integrity, quality, and hard work.

Stepping back from his professional life enabled him to spend more time with his wife Mary and his ever-expanding family at their summer home in Gray Gables on Cape Cod, and in Pompano Beach, Florida. The home in Gray Gables was where Bud was happiest, surrounded by his wife, large extended family, and lifelong friends, hosting cookouts, clambakes–and remarkably–four family weddings.

Whether it was an excursion for Ma’s Donuts on a Saturday morning, quahogging in front of the house, or piling into in the station wagon for go-kart rides and Betty Ann’s soft-serve, he ensured his family, and everyone who visited, went home with memories for a lifetime. There was nothing he enjoyed more than puttering around the yard and house, filling up the bird feeders and inventing reasons to visit Pocasset Hardware, and after decades of trips, this resulted in him essentially constructing his own store in the basement.

For as many years as his knees allowed, Bud was an avid runner, and in addition to participating in several Falmouth Road Races, he completed the 1955 Boston Marathon. He was a longstanding member of the YMCA in Worcester and received the “outstanding runner” award in 1972 for running over one thousand miles a year, and he once calculated he’d run around the globe more than one and a half times. Later in life, Bud and Mary took up golfing and joined Pocasset Golf Club, where they met many wonderful friends, and Bud enjoyed playing in various leagues.

He taught his family how to properly raise, lower and fold a flag, how to use a sundial to tell time, and how to determine what time of year it is by looking at where the sun sets. He taught them the value of hard work, the significance of a faith-filled life, and the importance of family first.

Bud will be remembered for his many wonderful qualities and the quirky habits that made him unique. For the countless lives he touched through his professional endeavors and his private generosity and philanthropy to organizations that were dear to his heart. For his steadfast practice of attending daily Mass and for always being on time. For his shenanigans, his practical jokes, his never-ending trivia questions about Massachusetts geography. For his love of Bing Crosby and of singing, and for reciting the story of Cinderella backwards, or quoting Shakespeare. For his infamous strawberry daiquiris, and for his ability to plaster every item in sight with an embossed label. And he will be fondly remembered for using his typewriter as his primary means of writing correspondence until his last days–the very same one gifted to him by his parents at his high school graduation–often ending his notes with “Health and Benediction.” Yet as successful as Bud was in his professional life, his greatest accomplishment was the family he built with Mary, his wife of sixty-two years, and the legacy he leaves behind.

Bud will be affectionately remembered and lovingly missed by so many. His six children, Kathy Dickinson and her husband Tom of Woonsocket, RI, Fran Madigan and his wife, Susan of Shrewsbury, Mary Fran Bauchspies and her husband Richard of Portsmouth, RI, Margaret Tietje and her husband, Frank of Falmouth, Jim Madigan and his wife, Marybeth of Sudbury and Ellen Newman and her husband Peter Casey of Winchester; fifteen grandchildren: Katie, Tom Jr., Kelly and Christine Dickinson (fiancé Ben Finn); Andrew and Sarah Madigan, Laura Madigan and Jesse Dooling, Brendan and Meredith Madigan, Timothy and Christina Bauchspies; Kathryne and Matthew Crowley, Michael and Lauren Bauchspies; Nathaniel and Owen Madigan; Riley, Caitrin and Teagan Newman; nine great-grandchildren: Patrick, Liam, Claire, Michael Jr. (MJ), Christopher, Madison, Maeve, Emmett, Noah and three more on the way; dozens of cherished nieces and nephews; sister-in-law, Jane M. Baggan; countless treasured lifelong friends; and by his long-time dedicated caregiver Mouna Marabe Arthur, who for more than four years tirelessly and compassionately attended to Papi in the last years of his life, making him laugh, bringing him joy and teaching him he was never too old to learn new things. Besides his parents, Bud is predeceased by his sister Shirley M. Doyle, his sisters-in-law Catharine G. "Kay" Curran and her spouse Robert W. Curran and Anne F. O'Connor and her spouse Thomas P. O'Connor; brother-in-law Edward R. Baggan, Jr., niece Jane A. Angliss and nephew Kevin W. Baggan; and son-in-law, Benjamin J. Newman.

Relatives and friends are invited to gather with Bud's family during a period of Calling Hours on Thursday, July 30, 2026, from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Miles Funeral Home, 1158 Main Street, Holden. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, July 31, 2026, at 10:00 AM at Immaculate Conception Church, 353 Grove Street, Worcester. All guests are respectfully asked to gather directly at the church. Interment will immediately follow at Notre Dame Cemetery, 162 Webster Street, Worcester.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Bud’s memory to Saint John's High School- Madigan Family Scholarship Fund, 378 Main St., Shrewsbury, MA 01545 or to Notre Dame Academy, 425 Salisbury Street, Worcester, MA 01609.