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Mayor Menino has died
By adamg on Thu, 10/30/2014 - 11:24am
Thomas M. Menino, the longest serving mayor in Boston history, died this morning at Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he had been battling cancer.
Menino, 71, served 20 years as mayor after a career as city councilor. He was very much a man of his city - what other big-city mayor could boast of having shaken hands with a majority of the residents he served?
Elevated to mayor by accident - he was city-council president when Ray Flynn left for the Vatican - Menino preceded to win five terms on his own by large margins.
The "urban mechanic," a man of the neighborhoods who was not afraid of picking up stray trash he saw on the street, Menino also helped set in motion processes that will change the city for decades, most notably the work that led to the Innovation District atop acres of parking lots along the once somnolent South End waterfront.
And who can forget him disregarding his doctors' orders in the days after the Marathon bombings to stand up and eulogize its victims and oversee the effort to find the surviving Tsarnaev brother in Watertown?
Even in illness, he maintained his Boston brashness: Rather than relying on a simple cane, he jauntily used a baseball bat fashioned into a cane - one inscribed with the years of all the Red Sox World Series victories during his tenure.
And yet, he remained true to his roots: He always took his grandkids to school, and all the kids in Readville knew they could always count on the Meninos to hand out the good candy on Halloween in their Chesterfield Road Cape.
Menino also adopted a proudly liberal position on a number of social issues from LGBT rights to gun violence.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren said:
We lost a great fighter today. Mayor Menino is gone, but his spirit lives on in every neighborhood in Boston.
Mayor Walsh said:
No man possessed a greater love for our City, and his dedicated life in service to Boston and her people and changed the face of the City.
Just a week ago, Menino announced he was stopping chemotherapy after being hospitalized for dehydration during a tour to promote his autobiography.
His family posted the following statement:
At just after 9:00 a.m. this morning the Honorable Thomas M. Menino passed into eternal rest after a courageous battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his devoted wife Angela, loving family, and friends. Mayor Menino, the longest serving Mayor of the City of Boston, led our city through a transformation of neighborhood resurgence and historic growth - leaving the job he loved, serving the city and people he loved this past January. We ask that you respect the families’ privacy during this time.
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Comments
Sad
RIP, I hope he enjoyed the last few months and got to spend more time with his wife/kids.
First Italian American Mayor
First Italian American Mayor of Boston , Menino ( Mennino ) his family's Italian roots come from a town 40 minutes East of Naples, Italy named Grottaminarda in the province of Avellino, Italy . My Italian facebook friends and distant relatives also come from surrounding towns from where Menino's ancestors came from, they have friends with the mennino name from places like flumeri italy.Today, I posted a photo of Menino to these italian friends to remind them that our ex ItalianBoston mayor Tom Menino has passed on.
Rest in peace Mr. Menino. Sad
Rest in peace Mr. Menino. Sad day.
We knew that this was coming.
We knew that this was coming. It's none the less shocking.
Too bad that he couldn't have enjoyed some years his legacy.
Not every city is lucky
Not every city is lucky enough to get a mayor who cares more passionately about his city than about his future political career or his own purse. Whether or not we like everything he did as mayor, every step he made intended to make the city better.
Thanks, Mayor.
i am heartbroken....
Very well put!!!
Well said! Great tribute to
Well said! Great tribute to a true public servant in every sense.
He cared more about his city
than his health. He was passionate in his love for the neighborhoods of Boston. He would keep impossible hours. He did this at the expense of a good diet and regular exercise. My thoughts go out to Angela and his family. Rest in Peace Tommy from Readville.
Rest In Peace, the people's
Rest In Peace, the people's Mayor.
:(
Say what you want about Tom Menino but he did so much for Boston during his tenure and put Boston on the map.
He will be sadly missed.
RIP Tom
right
Nobody ever knew our name until Tommy created an awesome City!!!!!!!!!!!!
Argh
I hate this.
Best Mayor Ever
Best Mayor Ever
I was 3 yrs old when Menino
I was 3 yrs old when Menino became the mayor, and was so for the next 20 years. Impossible to forget what a force of nature he was. Let's hope those that follow will carry on his legacy of compassion, compromise, and unerring faith in the potential of Boston.
thats a bummer man
What is dead may never die
I think he'll be missed
Boston lost a good guy and Hyde Park lost a good neighbor.
Heartfelt condolences to Angela and all the family.
He'll always be my mayor.
RIP Tom. Only mayor I've ever really known.
Peace and Comfort to All of Boston
I'm currently reading Menino's bio and he feels so alive and vibrant to me right now. So the news is hitting especially hard. Say what you will about the man, but he loved this city. Hard. And the city loved him back.
I was thinking of all of the times I'd met him -- at the opening of a small, locally-owned business in Roslindale where he held my new puppy and at several Boston Pride events where he was just so incredibly inspirational in his support for the LGBT community in the city even when he knew it would cost him votes.
I will forever love the man for taking on Chick-Fil-A for their owner's homophobic views. He made me so proud to be a Bostonian that day.
But my favorite Menino memory was of the opening a new low-income housing unit in Egleston Square for elders. During his speech, an elderly woman rushed up to the podium with a giant bouqet of flowers she had purchesed from a corner store... and hugged Menino and presented him with the flowers.
It was so beautiful. She obviously saw him as a bit of a father figure to her and to the entire city.
Much like we all did.
I lived at the same house in
I lived at the same house in East Boston for 47 years, I saw changes over the years in the immediate neighborhood and in Boston , and once Menino became Mayor in 1993 things started to take off gradually, He started the Main streets program, having business owners change the outside appearance of each storefront, replacing It with brick , and also changing storefront signage the area would have a look and feel of a small town, and it worked out as a success. He turned a vacant middle school on Marion street to an old folks home, he had millions of dollars of work into an aging East Boston stadium, a new Fire station on Sumner street, revitalized Maverick square, fixed up aging playgrounds, and community pools, increased the number of Ambulances in the community, redeveloped the Maverick housing projects, repaved streets, new light poles, new library, goes on and on..and this is only 1% of Boston.
Great Legacy
He was always there for the working class. I have nothing but great memories of him.
It's so sad he won't get to enjoy his retirement.
However I believe if he wasn't sick he would probably have run again and would still be Mayor.
Being Mayor was what he loved.
Retirement isn't for people like Mayor Menino.
RIP Sir.
You will be missed.
http://cappyinboston.blogspot.com/
Rest in Peace Mayor
May his family be at peace.
Boston mourns and celebrates your legacy.
RIP Tom.
The City was lucky to have him. His passion was unmatched and he inspired a culture of accountability and responsiveness to citizens that has made Boston one of America's great success stories. He understood that provision of basic city services could strike a connection with the people that would allow him to accomplish greater things. He proved to the people that local government could be competent and that earned him the trust and voting support to implement larger initiatives.
He had sharp elbows like any successful MA pol, and was by no means infallible or articulate. But his legacy is intact and he will be remembered fondly as a guy who loved his city and poured all his energy into making it a more livable place for all.
pride
always a pleasure to see him in the Pride parade.
he loved all of us.
rest in peace, mr. mayor.
Mixed Legacy
Tom Menino I am sure had had some good intentions but lets not make him out to be a saint either.
"Life is too short to hold grudges". No one held a grudge like him. He could be ruthless.
The man had a blacklist longer than Stalins and Nixons put together.
When He came in as Mayor there were neighborhoods that were full of families and kids. He gave developers free reign over those neighborhoods turned those once thriving corners full of kids into 1 and two bedroom condos while making a huge profit from the developers turning those neighborhoods into suitcase towns.
How about his biggest abortion.. The decline of Downtown crossing. " Once a model for working class cities. Now it is a cesspool that smells like piss and junkies walking around like Zombies at every turn.
Read the Book " The Rascal
Read the Book " The Rascal King" about Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, I read this book 25 years ago. One of the best political stories in Boston history.
Baruch dayan emes
Baruch dayan emes
to Mayor Tom: You've really
to Mayor Tom: You've really made the grade.
Very sad. Rest in peace, Mr.
Very sad. Rest in peace, Mr. Mayor, and my condolences to his family and friends.
rest in peace mister mayor
you will be missed and remembered.
Sad that he did not get to enjoy his well-earned retirement....
... for much, much longer.
My condolences to his family and friends.
Wow. Like so many have said,
Wow. Like so many have said, we knew this was coming; just didn't expect it so soon. What a force of nature! Pride of Readville, and he never left the 'hood. RIP, Mumbles. We will never forget you.
:-(
God, I hate cancer.
More reactions
Dr. Martin Luther King said..
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?" Mayor Menino did this every day.. RIP
Statement by Mayor Walsh
RIP, he was a good dude.
RIP, he was a good dude.
one thing for sure
despite political disagreements one thing that was never in doubt is that he did what he did for the love of the City of Boston and all those who call it home.
RIP Mr. Mayor...
I think we'll all miss him.
.
THANK YOU
THANK YOU
Statement by DA Dan Conley
This is, indeed, sad.
Tom Menino clearly knew that he wasn't long for this world, which is why he requested that the chemo treatments that he was undergoing be terminated.
Without ever knowing Tom Menino and/or his family personally, I offer my condolences to his friends/loved ones during these dark and difficult times.
The Fates took Tom Menino away too soon. He died too young.
RIP, Tom Menino.
Statement by President Obama
May the angels lead you, Mr. Mayor
Mr. Menino was the first politician I ever met. My grandfather took me to a city council meeting when I was in fourth grade and at the end of the meeting, Mr. Menino came over and shook my hand and very patiently answered a question I asked him about fixing the sidewalk in front of our building - even though he wasn't my councilor. Nobody knew this city like he did, and nobody loved it more. We're a better city today because of him.
RIP, sir. We miss you already.
Not Surprised, Just Sad.
Rest in Peace, Mayor Menino.
Great article on Mayor Menino
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-30/menino-thomas-longest-serving-b...
RIP Mr. Mayor
It sounds like a contradiction...
... to call the same man "Larger than life" and "a man of the people," but Mayor Menino was, in fact, both. The sort of legend who comes around only once in a generation -- and yet also the guy who you run into at the shirt counter in Filene's Basement.
Memorial
We need a bronze memorial of Varitek kicking a football through the up-rights with Menino, hands raised in the sign for a field goal, smilling right along.
Hovering helicopters over W. Rox, Roslindale, possibly H.P.
I'm in West Roxbury, and there are loud hovering helicopters in the distance, I believe over Roslindale - Hyde
park; anyone else hear/see them? They've been at it for awhile now. Anything to do with the mayor's death? Just curious.
Body taken to West Roxbury
To the Gormley Funeral Home.
Sad Indeed
This is sad news. I thought he would be around for longer. Ironically, his obit in the New York Times seems even more flattering to him (and in a back-handed way the City) than the piece in the Boston Globe. I'm sure his ghost is on its way over to Morrisey Blvd. to haunt the editor right now.
Ugh, sad.
I never met the man, but he seemed very lov able and endearing.
The verbal gaffes, swinging down the hammer on chic-fil-a,, watching the 2013 Pride parade from the Parkman House, his response to the Marathon Bombings, etc. he truck me as tenacious, yet down to earth.
Godspeed sir.
:(
:(
The Eternal City on the Hill has a new Mayor
Our loss, Heaven's gain.
Mayor Menino was the only mayor I knew in Boston until his retirment. His strong support for the dignity and human rights of Gay people always amazed me. He pissed me off at times and wowed me other times.
I am sure that today mine is not the only heart that is broken or eyes that can not stop crying. I cried three days when Ted Kennedy died. Now I cry for Tom Menino's departure from our world.
Giants are passing. May we meet even just half the stature of the giants we have known.
Farewell Mr. Mayor. May Heaven take you, in the City of God house you, and give you plenty of the work that you so loved to do.
Just heartbroken...
May he rest in peace...
Rest in peace mayor merino
Mayor merino will be remembered and may he rest in peace.
ummm...
oh never mind...
we'll miss you Tom at Doyles, the library, in HP, wherever we ran into you. You had a big heart for a great city and we are better for it.
I thought he was a good guy.
I thought he was a good guy. I remember him being at the Little League field in West Roxbury on opening day, mingling with the kids and shaking their hands, wishing them a good season. I feel sad at his passing. He was just a year older than I am. Wish he'd had time to enjoy his retirement.
Best Mayor Ever. The peoples Mayor RIP
Mayor Menino was the greatest mayor I have ever seen. he was the peoples mayor. I am saddened to hear this news. he was a kind person. he was a caring person. he was for the commoners and the poor. he was always there for students, blacks, white, Asians and all race. He participated in racial and ethic healing. he changed Boston for good and he cared about the city. Boston use to have a lot of crimes when i was in college but he rebuilt Boston. he made the way for the poor people. he beautified Boston. he changed projects homes and made it a better place for the poor. he helped turn around every community. he was always humble and the people was always his priority. I don't know where to start to thank him because I am choke up with tears. he was loved by everyone. I remember campaigning for him volunteer during his last election. I didn't mind at all to volunteer for his election campaign at his campaign office because I knew that he will continue doing a good work for the city we all love. After he won the election he thanked all us for the good work and I was proud of him and will stay proud of him forever because he made a different in our lives. Mayor Menino, I want to thank you for caring for the people, for all you have done for the city of Boston and for Massachusetts. you touch my life. you touch the heart of everyone because Boston is the heart of Massachusetts and you made us all proud. Today, it is a huge loss for Boston and the state of Massachusetts. you did the very best for the city of Boston. I know that God will open the gates of heaven for you. you are a gentlemen with a giant heart. with heavy heart and tears, May your soul rest in peace. My condolences to Mayor Menino's family.
I would like to see a Thomas
I would like to see a Thomas M. Menino museum in the future in Boston with all of his memorabilia and photos and his personal desk on display similar to the JFK Museum.