Ralph R. Papitto — philanthropist, corporate executive and former chairman of the board of trustees of Roger Williams University — died Friday at the age of 92, according to a spokesman for his family's foundation. Papitto was the founder of Nortek, Glass-Tile Industries, AFC Cable Systems and the Read to Succeed Program for South Providence students. When he died, he was chairman of the Papitto Foundation.

He had been chairman at Roger Williams, whose law school bore his name, until 2007, when he was ousted after he used a racial slur during a board discussion about the need to increase minority and female membership on the panel. The ensuing turmoil led the university to remove Papitto's name from the law school. He is survived by Barbara Papitto, his wife of 36 years; his children, Andrea Crump, Aurelia Papitto and David Papitto, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.