By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Richard Gay, one of the founding owners of Gay Fish Company on St. Helena Island, died on Wednesday, Feb. 19, from cancer, according to his family.
Gay, 85, was one of six children born to John and Hilda Gay, who opened Gay Fish Company in 1948.
He worked as a commercial shrimper and helped to manage the family business for 38 years.
Gay also served with S.C. National Guard for 21 years before he retired, and it was during this time that he was credited with creating the recipe for the Lowcountry favorite dish Frogmore Stew.
It was while he was on National Guard duty in the 1960s that he first made the dish, and he brought the recipe back to the Gay Fish Company with him where he would put out copies of the recipe and sell the ingredients to make the shrimp dish.
The recipe has been featured in several national publications and television shows under the name Frogmore Stew.
“There are other dishes that are similarly made, but he is the one who put the recipe together as we know it and called it Frogmore Stew,” said Cyndy Gay Carr, Gay’s niece.
Born on Lady’s Island and raised on the water, Gay was always a very active participant in the annual Beaufort Water Festival, which at its inception was a very big deal for the local shrimping community according to Carr.
According to his family, Gay was the first water skier to perform in the first Water Festival.
“I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about him,” Carr said about Gay. “He was always so happy and made others feel happy as well.”
As if contributing to one of Beaufort’s claims to fame is not enough, when movie producers came to Beaufort a little more than 30 years ago wanting to make the movie Forrest Gump, Gay took action to make sure his family’s business was part of the movie magic.
Gay Fish Company provided the shrimp and related movie props that were used in several scenes in the iconic movie, and Richard was in a big part to thank for that.
Gay left the family business about 30 years ago when he sold his stake in the shrimping company and moved to Oklahoma with his wife.
Here he taught shrimping and repairing shrimp nets as well as managing the meat markets for several grocery store chains.
He lived in Oklahoma until late 2024, when he moved back to the Lowcountry to spend time with his brothers and sister, five daughters, 13 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren.
A celebration of life will be held on Sunday, March 9, 2025, at 3 p.m. at the Red Dam Baptist Church in Hardeeville.
The family will begin receiving guests at 2 p.m.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
