He was born in Watertown, New York and moved to Dayton, Ohio with his parents in 1890 when his father's employer, the Davis Sewing Machine Company, was purchased by George P. Huffman and relocated from Watertown to Dayton.
Fitzgerald attended Dayton public schools, read law under John M. Sprigg of Dayton and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1896. He commenced practice in Dayton as a partner in Sprigg & Fitzgerald that later became Fitzgerald & Sprigg.
In 1900, Fitzgerald married and thebcouple had two daughters and a son. Their son, Roy Jr., was a Major in World War II, survived the Battle of the Bulge, but died five months after VJ Day.
Fitzgerald’s first wife, Caroline, suffered with ill health and she died in 1935 during her husband's Congressional service. He remarried after her death.
During World War I, Fitzgerald enlisted in the Army and was later commissioned as an Infantry Captain of infantry and was the commanding officer of Headquarters Company, 329th Infantry Regiment. In 1928 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of Infantry, United States Army Reserve Corps.
Fitzgerald was elected as a Republican from Ohio and served five terms. He was defeated for reelection in 1930.
During his decade in Congress, Fitzgerald fought for a number of causes that dismayed his more conservative colleagues, including child labor laws, reorganization of the U S Army Air Corps as an independent body and Federal care of the needy aged, the forerunner of Social Security.
A licensed pilot and early advocate of flying, Fitzgerald was acquainted with Wright brothers. His interest in flying led him, in 1927, to urge that the Air Force be reorganized as an independent military force.
After his Congressional service, he resumed practicing law in Dayton with two partners. From 1927 to 1930, he was a delegate to an organization that studied methods of classifying international law and served in Paris, Berlin, Geneva and London.
He also found time to climbed 14,410 foot Mount Rainier in Washington state. Then, in 1929, he swam the Bosphorus Strait from Europe to Asia in a cold rain. The swim took him 30 minutes.
Fitzgerald was a director of the Merchants National Bank & Trust Company in Dayton for more than 50 years, and president of the Montgomery County Historical Society for 22 years.
Fitzgerald died in Dayton in 1962 after a long illness and is interred with his family at Woodland Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio.
His opponent in the following game was James Abbott (1852-1932). He was President of the Western Chess Association from 1906-1907.
The game was played in the 6th Western Championship (US Open) in Excelsior, Minnesota in 1905. It was very close and hard-fought event, in which the top five finishers did not draw any of their games with each other. Playing three games a day had to be a grind!
There was also a controversy when one player, Charles Rosen, defaulted several games and the tournament committee decided to cancel his score because he had played less than half of his games.
This action benefited Blake, who had drawn with Rosen, and penalized Schrader who had received a point on forfeit.
However, just before the last round they changed their mind and declared that Blake's draw with Rosen would have to stand. That left Blake and Schrader tied for first. In the final round Schrader defeated Fitzgerald while Blake could only draw against Stacy.
Roy G Fitzgerald–James Abbott1–0D37Western Champ, Excelsior, MinnesotaExcelsior, MN USA23.08.1905Stockfish 16
D37: Queen's Gambit Declined 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.c3 f6 4.f4 This move
is not seen very often, but it's a dynamic move that gives white an aggressive
position. In recent times it's been used by Shirov, Kramnik, So and Anand. e7 5.e3 0-0 6.f3 b6 7.c1 c5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.d3 a6 Not really bad, but the
modern was is either 9...Bb7 or 9...Nc6 10.0-0 Taking on a6 was equally
good. xd3 11.xd3 c4 12.f5 d7 The exchange of Qs does not turn out well.
His best choices were either 12...Bc6 or 12...Bb4 13.xd7 bxd7 14.e5 b8
This retreat is not a desirable move to have to make, but in this situation it
is blacks' best choice. 14...xe5 A superficial glance might give the
impression that this is OK, but after 15.dxe5 d7 16.xd5 d8 17.xc4
White has a decisive advantage. 15.b3 cxb3 16.axb3 b4 17.b5
bd7 With this move black's position collapses, but white's somewhat
imprecise play that follows lets black back in the game. 17...a5 18.c6 xc6 19.xc6 fc8 20.fc1 xc6 21.xc6 a4 22.bxa4 h6 23.c7 xa4 While
this position favors white, in Shootouts white scored +2 -0 =3. so blacl does
have reasonable drawing chances OTB. 18.c6 a5 19.xb4 After this white's
position deteriorates to the point that his advantage is minimal (or even just
theoretical) without his making any obviously bad moves! 19.c7 is the
only move that keeps his winning chances at a high probability. ac8 19...h5 20.xa8 xa8 21.xb4 axb4 22.a1 wins 20.xb4 axb4 21.d6 fd8 22.e7 wins 19...axb4 20.d6 Illustrating what was wrong with 17...Nvd7 fc8 21.xb4 g6 22.c7 22.c7 was even better. ab8 23.c6 Black is
left without a reasonable move. 22...xc7 23.xc7 a2 23...c8 24.d6 e4 25.xd5 xd6 26.e7+ f8 27.xc8 xc8 with a difficult ending...white
should prevail, but it will require considerable technique. 24.e7 24.Rc1
was a very good move. c2 Going after the b-Pawn would have result in an
ending where black had better practical chances. 24...b2 25.c1 xb3 26.g4 h6 27.c6 e4 28.xd5 g7 29.c7 df6 30.xf6+ xf6 31.xf6 xf6 32.h4 Theoretically white has a won position. e6 25.b5 e4 26.b4 b2 This harmless looking move loses a couple of Ps and, of course, the game.
26...f6 A virtually impossible move to spot! 27.d6 f7 28.g3 e7 29.a1 c4 30.a7 c3 30...xb4 31.c6+ 31.f1 And a draw seems a
reasonable outcome. 27.f3 d2 28.c1 Hoping for Rc7. g7 28...c4
puts up stouter resistance. 29.e1 f6 30.c7 f7 31.xd5 e6 32.e4 d2
and a hard struggle remains. 29.c7 White is winning. f6 30.xf6+ xf6 31.xd5+ Another P falls, so black resigned. 1–0
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