Hickey sold Tidewater, a Columbia River tugboat and barge company, in 1996, and he used the wealth he created to help others. Hickey contributed more than $20 million to support local projects and causes, among them, about $1.5 million worth of land donated for the Waterfront Renaissance Trail along the Columbia River shoreline; a $1.5 million contribution to jointly develop the Ray Hickey Hospice House with the Southwest Washington Medical Center Foundation and large contributions to the YWCA Clark County, the Columbia Land Trust and Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.
“Ray has affected thousands and thousands of people in our region,” said Royce Pollard, former Vancouver Mayor, who added that Hickey did much of his giving anonymously.
“He never looked for publicity,” Pollard said of the former tugboat fleet owner.
In 2005, Hickey’s nonprofit, The Ray Hickey Foundation, was honored at the Oregon Philanthropy Awards, a yearly honor bestowed upon an elite group of givers including the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, the Ford Family Foundation and the Meyer Memorial Trust.
“I hope that what people remember most was his empathy for others. He was a very grateful person for what he had in his life, for his opportunities, and he used that to make a difference,” said Linda Hickey, who also serves as vice president of the Hickey Family Co., a Vancouver property management company, and director of The Ray Hickey Foundation.