Thomas Menino | |
---|---|
53rd Mayor of Boston | |
In office July 12, 1993 – January 6, 2014 |
|
Preceded by | Raymond Flynn |
Succeeded by | Marty Walsh |
President of the Boston City Council | |
In office January – March 1993 |
|
Preceded by | Dapper O'Neil |
Succeeded by | James M. Kelly |
Boston City Councilor for District 5 |
|
In office 1984–1993 |
|
Preceded by | District created |
Succeeded by | Daniel F. Conley |
Personal details | |
Born |
Thomas Michael Menino December 27, 1942 Hyde Park, Boston, Massachusetts |
Died | October 30, 2014 Boston, Massachusetts |
(aged 71)
Resting place |
Fairview Cemetery Hyde Park, Boston, Massachusetts |
Nationality | American |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Angela Faletra (1966–2014; his death) |
Children | Susan Thomas Jr. |
Alma mater |
Mount Ida College UMass Boston |
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Thomas Michael Menino (December 27, 1942 – October 30, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 53rd Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts from 1993 to 2014. He was the city's longest-serving mayor. Before becoming mayor, the Boston native was a member and President of Boston City Council.
Menino was President of the United States Conference of Mayors (2002–2003) and co-chair and co-founder with Michael Bloomberg of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. In January 2014, he was appointed Professor of the Practice of Political Science at Boston University. He also served as Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Initiative on Cities, an urban leadership research center based at Boston University.
Menino was born on December 27, 1942 in Readville, a part of Boston's Hyde Park neighborhood. He was the son of Susan and Carl Menino, both of Italian descent. Menino's father was a factory foreman at Westinghouse Electric, and his grandparents lived on the first floor of his parents' Hyde Park home.
After graduating from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Jamaica Plain in 1960, Menino enrolled in three night classes at Boston College and began working at Metropolitan Life Insurance. Much to his father's dismay, Menino decided college was not for him. Carl Menino once recalled his son's reasons for opting out of higher education: "Truman didn't go to college," the younger Menino would tell his father. President Harry S. Truman was Menino's favorite president and personal hero.