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streetsmart
Member
37 Posts |
 Posted - 03/06/2009 : 11:02:58 AM
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FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE GEORGE KEVERIAN HAS PASSED AWAY THIS MORNING NO DETAILS ARE AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME.
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2009 : 11:49:47 AM
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This is sad news. Mr Keverian was a wonderful person who did a great deal for the City of Everett and it's residents. Rest In Peace, Mr Speaker.
"Deb" |
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justme
Advanced Member
1428 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2009 : 12:02:28 PM
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| He'll be missed by many. May he rest in peace.......... |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2009 : 12:19:05 PM
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| Mr. Keverian did do a great deal for this city and was always very kind with people that had any questions or problems with taxes, etc.....God Bless you George Keverian. |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2009 : 12:23:34 PM
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Here's the story.
You must be logged in to see this link.
Keverian at work in the assessors office at Everett City Hall in April.
By Kay Lazar, Globe Staff
Former Massachusetts House Speaker George Keverian was found dead this morning in his Everett home by a co-worker who was sent to check on him after the iconic politician didn't show up for a 9:30 appointment to read Dr. Seuss books to first-graders at the elementary school that bears his name.
Keverian, 77, a Harvard graduate who served 24 years in the state Legislature, was House speaker for five years.
In 1985, he wrested the speaker's post from Thomas McGee, in an unprecedented upset of a sitting speaker. Five years later, Keverian lost the position and a Democratic primary bid for state treasurer.
After that, he went home to Everett and in 1995 took a part-time post as chief assessor, a position he held until his death.
"George had one motivation in his life and that was to help people…people he didn’t know, people he would never see again," said Carl Surabian, the co-worker who went to check on Keverian after he didn't show up for the book reading this morning.
"He was genuinely interested in helping people, and he had a million friends as a result of it," Surbian said.
Everett Fire Chief David Butler said the cause of death had not been determined.
After graduating college, Keverian was first elected alderman in Everett, beginning a 37-year career as a Democratic officeholder.
Keverian led a challenge of reform-minded liberals against McGee. After taking over as speaker, his open leadership style was considered a breath of fresh air. But some later called his laissez faire management style ill-suited to difficult political and economic times, giving House members the ability to refuse tough votes.
He was known for his wry sense of humor and his struggles with his weight. Weighing over 300 pounds, he told reporters after his defeat in the 1990 primary that he was considering a new career as a jockey. Standing before a microphone, he would quip, "Can everyone see me all right?"
In more recent years, he acknowledged that being overweight was a sensitive topic. "Sometimes people say things to get a laugh, but they don't stop and think about what effect that has on the person who's the subject of their joke," he told the Globe in 2004. "They wouldn't make jokes about someone in a wheelchair or someone with an illness." |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2009 : 07:56:50 AM
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You must be logged in to see this link.
The Boston Globe
George Keverian, former House speaker, dies at 77
By Bryan Marquard
Globe Staff / March 7, 2009
George Keverian, who toppled his predecessor as speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives during an epic Beacon Hill battle in the mid-1980s, was found dead in his Everett home yesterday after he failed to show up to read a Dr. Seuss book to first-graders at the Everett elementary school that bears his name.
Mr. Keverian, who was 77, had struggled with his health, said his nephew Ken, of Lexington. He had been hospitalized with congestive heart failure more than a year ago.
"George Keverian served as the definition of the words public service," House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said in a statement yesterday. He added in an interview that Mr. Keverian taught officials "not to forget your roots."
"He was from Everett and was proud to be from Everett," DeLeo said. "He felt that if you were a first term rep or a speaker of the House, you shouldn't forget where you came from."
In 24 years as a state representative, ending with six years as speaker, Mr. Keverian redrew the legislative map twice, in 1970 and 1974. He wielded the colored markers that trimmed the number of House seats from 240 to 160 and used his power to back establishing the State Ethics Commission.
The coup that brought him to power in January 1985 had no precedent in modern state political history. He had served as majority leader and heir apparent under Speaker Thomas McGee, then split with him in 1983 when McGee refused to step aside and give Mr. Keverian a shot at the top leadership post.
Cobbling together a coalition of reform-minded representatives and those out of favor with the speaker, Mr. Keverian took on McGee for more than a year before he at last grasped the gavel. A quarter-century later, the fault lines remain. Older politicians can still say who sided with Mr. Keverian and who remained loyal to McGee.
An elected official for 37 years, until a 1990 loss in the Democratic primary for state treasurer, Mr. Keverian saw his political career falter during the economic downturn of the late 1980s. His tenure as House speaker began in the euphoria of reform and a more open style of leadership and ended amid criticism that he could not control the House when hard times called for even harder decisions.
A lifelong bachelor who doted on his parents, his brother, Jack, and his brother's family, Mr. Keverian liked nothing more than to spend an evening in Everett playing cards with friends or spending time with relatives. His parents were Armenian immigrants who left Turkey before the 1915 genocide. His father ran a shoe repair shop; his mother was a dressmaker.
"He had a wonderful feel for - the phrase we use is 'the little guy,' " said Thomas M. Finneran, the former House speaker who served under Mr. Keverian. "That probably comes from his childhood in Everett. George just had a great empathy and a great feel for what the little guy and the little girl was up against."Continued...
Mr. Keverian graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1949 at Everett High School, spent two years at Tufts College, then transferred to Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1953.
Jumping into politics immediately, he was elected to the Common Council, the lower house of Everett's city government. Two years later, he was reelected while serving with the US Army in Alaska and was reelected twice more, in 1957 and 1959. Mr. Keverian then served on the Everett Board of Aldermen before he was elected to the House in 1966.
When he became speaker in 1985, Mr. Keverian was initially praised for an open, democratic style of leadership that departed from McGee's more autocratic reign.
He took over when the state's economy "was full steam ahead," Finneran recalled. "It was like a fabulous rocketship to be riding the first three or four years of his speakership."
But when the financial road got rocky, critics said Mr. Keverian presided, rather than prevailed, over the House, and let the chamber drift when swift action was needed.
Still, he loved the House with an ardor few politicians muster, and for many colleagues, the feeling was mutual.
"The members of the House really became, in many, many ways, his adopted family," said Finneran. "He knew your wife and your family. He knew if your child was sick. He knew if your child became valedictorian, and he would comment on it and send a note. The House was his family, and as you would dote upon your family members, he would dote upon us in many ways."
In 1990, Mr. Keverian ran for state treasurer, but lost in the primary. Tears flowed, not least of all Mr. Keverian's, when he bade farewell at 3 a.m. in the final House session of the year that December.
"George Keverian had a passion for public service and a wonderful sense of humor about politics," Governor Deval Patrick said in a statement yesterday. "His contributions to helping make Massachusetts better are countless and lasting."
After leaving Beacon Hill, Mr. Keverian took a part-time job as Everett's chief assessor in 1995. He was let go in late 2007 when the then-mayor said the position was no longer needed. But Mr. Keverian said it was political payback for supporting an opponent in the mayoral primary, and he returned to work about a year ago under a new mayor.
Mr. Keverian, whose girth was as generous as his spirit, battled weight problems as an adult. With a quick sense of humor that made him a popular speaker for civic groups, he drew material from his own struggles and might begin a speech by casually asking, "Can everyone see me behind this microphone?"
"He'd tell so many jokes, just off the top of his head," said Joseph DeNucci, the state auditor who served in the House with Mr. Keverian. "He could have been a standup comic."
But Mr. Keverian took seriously his responsibilities to work, family, and friends. He died in the house where he grew up and where he cared for his mother until she died in 1982. Friends were never simply acquaintances, and constituents were more than just another vote.
"He was everything to us," said Alfred Lattanzi, owner of Everett Supply and True Value Hardware, whose family hosted Mr. Keverian for several months in the 1980s while Lattanzi remodeled the House speaker's house. "After those 10 months, we were tighter than tight could be. He was like a second father. No one can live forever, but to lose George is like losing part of me."
Mr. Keverian's nephew, who was making funeral arrangements last night, said much of his uncle's important work took place far from Beacon Hill and away from the lens of a camera.
"I meet these strangers and hear stories about how he paid out of his own pocket to help somebody in the hospital or with college," Ken Keverian said. "He was the old-school public servant. It wasn't a veneer to make it look good on TV."
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
"Deb" |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2009 : 08:11:42 AM
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You must be logged in to see this link.
Longtime pol George Keverian found dead
Former House speaker, fondly remembered by colleagues, friends, was 77
Jessica Heslam By Jessica Heslam
Saturday, March 7, 2009 - Updated 9h ago
The death of Boston political icon George Keverian - the former House speaker - touched a nerve from his beloved Everett all the way up Beacon Hill yesterday as former colleagues, friends and family paid tribute.
“He was a rare guy,” said Michael Dukakis, the governor of Massachusetts when Keverian held the powerful post of speaker from 1985 to 1991. “He was one of smartest, one of the funniest people I ever knew, and a very, very good speaker.’
Keverian was found dead yesterday morning at age 77 in his Everett home, the same house in which he was raised. The cause of death was not immediately known.
A Democrat who was elected alderman in Everett at age 21, he was a state representative for many years before becoming speaker of the House - a seat he seized from fellow Democrat Thomas McGee.
“George Keverian served as the definition of the words public service. Speaker Keverian championed free debate and governmental reform,” current House Speaker Robert DeLeo said in a statement. “He led the House during a tough fiscal time and was not afraid to make difficult decisions for the benefit of the entire Commonwealth.”
Keverian lived a few hundred yards from the school named for him - the George Keverian School - and was expected at 9:30 a.m. yesterday to read Dr. Seuss books to the kids, said principal John Obremski. “He was looking forward to it,” said Obremski.
A lifelong bachelor, Keverian struggled with his weight. Over the past couple years, Keverian had battled some illnesses, and was hospitalized with congestive heart failure over a year ago, said nephew Ken Keverian.
“He was just a wonderful uncle and a wonderful member of the family, very loving. And you saw that in the way he was truly a public servant, in the true sense of the word,” his nephew said.
Keverian’s best friend, Alfred Dolores, 62, of Everett, said the former speaker was like a second father to him. “He was everything to our family,” said Dolores. “He was just loved by everybody.”
Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria Jr. said Keverian was “loved and respected” there. “We’ll all remember George’s humor, his love of politics, the State House, and particularly his love of Everett.”
Memorial activities are expected to start Wednesday at noon, when State House officials are planning a ceremony for Keverian’s lying in state. Funeral services are scheduled for Thursday at Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge.
"Deb" |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2009 : 12:45:36 AM
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Keverian service to be held at State House on Wednesday
George Keverian worked last year at Everett City Hall. He died last week in his Everett home at age 77. (Joanne Rathe/ Globe Staff)
By Eric Moskowitz
Globe Staff / March 8, 2009
As the lawmaker who led the effort to redraw the House when it was trimmed from 240 to 160 members, and as House speaker presiding over the body during the economic crisis of the late 1980s, George Keverian was occasionally at odds with his peers.
But his devotion to them personally - expressed in kind gestures, thoughtful comments, and the gentle application of his wit - was unsurpassed.
In tribute, legions of lawmakers, past and present, are expected to fill the House Chamber at noon Wednesday for a memorial service for Mr. Keverian, who died last week in his Everett home at 77.
"The Massachusetts House of Representatives became his home, and certainly the members of the House became his second family," said Thomas M. Finneran, who served under Keverian and later became speaker.
"Speakers can become controversial figures. They have to make decisions, and oftentimes they have to say no to many, many things. Yet even in the midst of fulfilling that side of the job, George was always loved and admired and respected by everybody," he said.
After the service, Mr. Keverian's casket will lie in state at Memorial Hall, the Hall of Flags, from 1 to 4 p.m., said Dusty Rhodes, the Boston event planner who is helping to organize the memorial.
Honor guards from the Massachusetts National Guard and the State Police will be present, said David Balfour, a former state buildings superintendent who is also helping plan the memorial.
The public is invited to the viewing and is also welcome at the memorial ceremony, with seating available in the House gallery, Balfour said.
Mayor Robert Correia of Fall River, who served with Mr. Keverian in the House, said his friend's affection for fellow lawmakers was matched by his desire to help people.
"If someone came in from the general public who needed his help, he would pick up the phone and call a congressman," Correia said. "He could be in a market and give someone money for groceries because they needed it. He didn't know who they were, and sometimes they didn't know who he was either."
In addition to the State House ceremony, a wake will be held Tuesday from 3 to 8 p.m. in Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church of Greater Boston, in Cambridge.
A funeral will be held in the church at 11 a.m. Thursday. Burial will be in Glenwood Cemetery in Everett.
Mr. Keverian leaves his brother, Jack, of Peabody.
"Deb" |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2009 : 9:28:11 PM
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Information from the city web site. May Mr. Keverian rest in peace.
Arrangements for Wake & Funeral of Speaker George Keverian
Tuesday, March 10, 2009 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Holy Trinity Church
145 Brattle Street
Cambridge
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
State House Chamber
Lying in State in Memorial Hall
Funeral
Thursday, March 12, 2009 11:00 a.m.
Holy Trinity Church
Internment at the Glenwood Cemetery
Reception following at the Keverian School,
20 Nichols Street
Buses will be available and will leave promptly from City Hall at 10:00 a.m. Once services are concluded the buses will return to City Hall.
Thursday
CITY HALL CLOSED
RECREATION CENTER- CLOSED
CONNOLLY CENTER- CLOSED
CITY SERVIES-CLOSED FOR ALL NON ESSESNTIAL EMPLOYEES
POLICE DEPARTMENT- CLOSED FOR ALL NON ESSENTIAL EMPLOYEES
FIRE- CLOSED FOR ALL NON ESSENTIAL EMPLOYEES |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
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AN ICON HAS PASSED AWAY
