Raymond A. Fitzpatrick

    Mr. Fitzpatrick was born in Queens, N.Y. on May 3, 1954, when he was 2 years old the family moved to Spanish Harlem, a neighborhood in Manhattan.   His college educated, professional parents had high expectations for him and he was enrolled in Irish-Christian brothers schools.  While attending high school a teacher began discussing the benefits of martial arts training with him.  It fell on deaf ears, as his interests laid elsewhere.  After two years of conversations, Mr. Fitzpatrick, dragged by his cousin, stumbled onto the Bronx, N.Y. Nisei Goju-Ryu dojo of Kyoshi Earl Monroe in 1970.

    Kyoshi Monroe, by now a triple black belt in Judo, Jiu-Jitsu and Goju-Ryu, was a hard nosed, no nonsense instructor.  A student of  Master Frank Ruiz (deceased), Monroe believed in long workouts and strong kumite.  You had no choice but to improve.

    The move to Iona College in New Rochelle separated Mr. Fitzpatrick from Kyoshi Monroe; fortunately, his Goju journey continued.  He joined the U.S.A. Goju Karate Club supervised by Master Albert Gotay.  Mr. Fitzpatrick came up through the ranks as an Urban Goju-Ryu karateka.  Upon graduating from Iona in 1975, he asked Master Gotay, a direct student of Chief Grand Master Peter Urban, for permission to work with the Chief Grand Master.  Master Gotay directed him to Goju Hall (the Honbu Dojo), NYC.

    Training at the Honbu dojo was truly an enlightening experience for the young karateka.  Masters of Goju-Ryu would stop in and train on a regular basis;  but most fascinating of all were the classes of the Chief Grand Master.  Mr. Fitzpatrick was promoted to black belt by Chief Grand Master Urban in 1976.  Lacking a place to train in his home town, he asked permission to open a dojo in New Rochelle and it was granted.  Goju Hall II was opened that same year.

    In 1977, Mr. Fitzpatrick began working with Master Frank Ruiz at The University of the Streets, NYC and Kyoshi Earl Monroe at Nisei Ni, Mt. Vernon, N.Y.  He founded the New Rochelle Karate Institute in 1978 and reconnected with the Nisei System. 

    In 1978, at Kyoshi Monroe's suggestion, Mr. Fitzpatrick began training with Prof. Albert Dandridge; a member of the Kyudan Jiu-Jitsu Federation and a Jiu-Jitsu dojo brother of Kyoshi Monroe.    Mr. Fitzpatrick traveled through the ranks eventually being promoted to black belt in 1988 and 2nd degree in 1993.  Prof. Dandridge maintains weekly contact with Mr. Fitzpatrick as chief Jiu-Jitsu instructor of the New Rochelle Karate Institute.

    From 1982 until 1988, Mr. Fitzpatrick was an adjunct professor of Physical Education at Concordia College in Westchester, NY; where he inaugurated and instructed a martial arts Physical Education course.  He did the same at the City College of the City University of New York in 1990.  From 1992 - 1998, he created and instructed the martial arts after-school programs at The Daniel Webster Magnet School, The William B. Ward Elementary School and The George M. Davis Elementary School all in New Rochelle.  As of 1998 to the present, he is teaching for the New Rochelle High School's after school program.  He established the New Rochelle High School Self Defense Club.  His dojo, the New Rochelle Karate Institute, is now located in the New Rochelle High School wrestling room.  In 2001, he began instructing a martial arts course for the Athletics and Physical Education department of Sarah Lawrence College located in Bronxville, NY.

    From 1984 to 1994, Mr. Fitzpatrick taught at the Metrofit Athletic Club in Pelham Manor, NY.  Additionally, he sponsored five open karate tournaments from 1984 until 1988 hosted by the Metrofit Athletic Club.

  A tournament competitor and referee, he began competing in 1974.  Included in his tournament record are 1st place fighting wins in 1974, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1986 and 1988.  He was also the Grand Champion of the 1981 tournament.  Mr. Fitzpatrick retired from tournament competition as a 4th degree in 1988.

        In 1980, Master Ruiz relocated to Florida and in 1985, Kyoshi Monroe left for Arizona.  Mr. Fitzpatrick worked briefly with Master Chaka Zulu, but spent his time primarily in his dojo creating black belt students.  With the unexpected death of Master Ruiz in 1995, the Nisei system began to fractionalize. 

    By 1999, Mr. Fitzpatrick realized that it was time to self-incorporate his own organization.  Again with Chief Grand Master Peter Urban's consent, Mr. Fitzpatrick began Nisei Goju-Jitsu.  "Nisei" is in honor of Master Ruiz and Kyoshi Monroe; "Goju-Jitsu" translates as the hard and soft combat method, an eclectic synthesis of  Mr. Fitzpatrick's Goju-Ryu and Jiu-Jitsu experiences.

    Mr. Fitzpatrick was promoted to Ju Dan, Hanshi in Martial Combative Sciences, by Seiko Hanshi, Peter G. Urban,Ph. D., Sci. D. and awarded the title of direct student of Seiko Hanshi..  To date, Mr. Fitzpatrick continues on his quest for new knowledge and strives to impart on his students his love and respect for the Martial Arts.