John "Jack" Boyce

John “Jack” Boyce, 81, of East Boston, passed peacefully on July 7 from complications of ALS. Jack was born in Malden, MA, in 1945 and graduated from Malden Catholic High School in 1963 and received his B.A. in industrial/product design from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1967. After college, he worked as a graphic designer for several agencies, including Cardinal Graphic Design. Later he began working for himself and continued to do so under the name “Rockport Design” until his retirement in 2019.

Jack had an adventurous soul and traveled extensively. His first big trips were to South America, where he went to Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands, and then to southeast Asia where he visited Bali, Thailand, and Angkor Wat. After becoming a certified scuba diver, he visited and dived the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Mamanuca Island chain of Fiji, Roatan, Bonaire, and his favorites, Turks and Caicos and Cozumel. After Jack stopped diving, he shifted his travels to “the opera capitals of Europe,” visiting La Scala in Milan and opera theaters in Paris, Rome, Verona, and Venice.

In addition to opera and scuba diving, Jack loved the city of Boston, nature, and gardening. In his later years, he had a container garden on his terrace and a view of the city’s skyline. He loved nothing more than waking up in the morning and opening his eyes to birds carrying twigs from his garden to build nests, the garden in bloom, and the Boston skyline as a backdrop.

Jack leaves behind his husband, Stewart Landers, of East Boston, MA, his sister Michelle (Boyce) Tuttavilla and brother-in-law Michael Tuttavilla of Lynn, MA; brother Steven Boyce and sister-in-law Annette Boyce of Manchester, NH; sister-in-law Cheryl Volpe of Winter Haven, FL; his nephew C. Michael Smith of Lynn, MA; his nieces Lisa Boyce of Manchester, NH; Laura (Boyce) Dreimiller and John Dreimiller of Ballston Spa, NY; Rachael (Boyce) Manfra and Derek Manfra, and great niece Julie Manfra, of Manchester, NH. Jack is predeceased by his father Charles F. Boyce; his mother Anne (Nelson) Boyce, sister Linda Boyce; brother Jim Boyce, and sister-in-law Karen (Atkinson) Boyce.

A celebration of Jack’s life will be held Saturday, July 18, at 11:00 am at Buonfiglio Funeral Home, 128 Revere Street, in Revere, MA. The celebration will continue after the service at Amrhein’s in South Boston.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Compassionate Care ALS in Falmouth, MA, at ccals.org or to Care Dimensions at caredimensions.org.