Robert L. Foley, at 81; Quincy’s Baseball Bob

“He always told me how important it was to like what you do, and that’s why he coached baseball for so long,’’ said his grandson, Matthew Watkins of Westborough. “He liked the game, but he also liked helping shape the lives of the players he coached throughout the years.’’

Mr. Foley, who resided the past 54 years on Algonquin Road in Quincy’s Merrymount neighborhood and worked 45 years for Boston Edison as an electrical engineer, died at his home Oct. 31 after a 10-year battle with cancer. He was 81.

“Bob was part of a special generation who loved to give, and the kids he coached were like his extended family,’’ said Quincy’s mayor, Tom Koch, who worked closely with Mr. Foley when the latter was the city’s parks commissioner. “He’d come in for permits and to set up schedules, and sometimes he was in our office every day because of that commitment. He was always a gentleman who treated people both on and off the field with respect.’’

Mr. Foley’s contribution to the city’s youth was recognized at the Little League field complex in West Quincy, where a plaque noting his achievements was dedicated at the concessions building in April 2008. His interest in coaching was piqued when Mr. Foley first signed up his son, Bobby, for Little League and, according to his family, memorized the Little League rule book from cover to cover.

“I had the unique privilege as a fourth-grader to play on my grandfather’s baseball team,’’ said Watkins. “My brother Brad also played,, and, at that time, [Mr. Foley] was already viewed as a legend in the baseball community. But to us, he was just Grandpa, and it was exciting to have him as our coach. I’m 31 now, and, as I grew older, I started to reflect on his dedication and passion for the game.’’

Mike Gormley of Milton, who played in 1963 and 1964 for Mr. Foley’s Quincy Cooperative Bank team, said his coach “was a man with so much enthusiasm and love for the game, and he transferred that to us.

“I’m an example of many of Mr. Foley’s players who went on to also become coaches, passing on what we had learned to future generations,’’ Gormley said.

Those players include Mr. Foley’s other son, William of Norwell, who coached with his father in the Quincy Little League.

“It was the experience of a lifetime to coach alongside my dad,’’ said William. “Coaching was like another profession to him. I had the best of both worlds, seeing him at home and on the field. He just came alive teaching those 10-, 11-, and 12-year-old kids and always in a gentle way. Loyalty and commitment were everything to him and something he passed on to me.’’

Mr. Foley was born in Boston and graduated from Mission High School in 1945. He was an Army veteran of the Korean War. After his return from the service, he worked days at Edison, where he was a business agent for Local 369 of the Utility Workers of America, and went to night school at Northeastern University, earning a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering in 1962.

Mr. Foley met Mary Ridge of Dorchester in the late 1940s when she worked at the Malcolm Kenneth clothing store in Boston as a bookkeeper. “Dad’s mom [Mary], my grandmother, also worked there, and she got Dad a part-time job there,’’ said Mr. Foley’s daughter, Barbara Watkins of Hingham. “I think it was part of her plan to introduce them; and they were married in 1950.’’ Mary Foley died in 1988.

Mr. Foley’s seven surviving children reside on the South Shore.

At family functions and celebrations, Mr. Foley was the first to arrive.

“And he’d be sure to let you know how his ball team was doing if you asked,’’ recalled his grandson, “but he always wanted to make you the focus of the conversation, and he’d offer great advice.’’

Mr. Foley’s daughter, Patty Valente of Hanover, said her father was proud of his family and very involved in their lives, always finding time to listen.

“He had 33 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, and every Christmas he would rent a hall in Norwell and arrange for Santa Claus to visit,’’ she said. “He gave everyone at the party an envelope containing cash.’’

Mr. Foley leaves four other daughters, Mary Torracco of Braintree, Kathy Laura of Norwell, and Judy Boyle and Rita Gill of Hingham, and his sister, Irene Fagan of Weymouth.

A funeral Mass will be said today at 10 a.m. in the Holy Trinity Parish at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church. Burial will be at Knollwood Memorial Park in Canton.