The dedication in Panderer to Power: The Untold Story of How
Alan Greenspan Enriched Wall Street and Left a Legacy of Recession:
To my father, who helped and encouraged me to write this book,
Even when it seemed futile. My confidence and stamina
Often flagged; his never did.
Frederick J. Sheehan, 88, former state
official
By Bryan Marquard |
Globe Staff
June 30, 2013
Fred Sheehan was a World War II veteran who received a
Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his service in Europe.
Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his service in Europe.
They were
near Herrlisheim and in the January 1945 battle that took place there a bullet
found Mr. Sheehan, too. In that frigid winter, he didn't discover the wound
until the next day because he was so frostbitten when the round pierced his
leg.
One
night, between the day his friend was killed and the battle when he was shot,
Mr. Sheehan was patrolling a warehouse when a mortar shell crashed through the
roof and landed next to him.
"It
was a dud," said his son Mike, "and I swear from that moment on he
knew God was taking care of him, and he was going to repay that. And he did,
every day of his life."
Mr. Sheehan, an estate lawyer who formerly was state
comptroller and chairman of the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control
Commission, died of a brain tumor Thursday in his Hingham home, where he had
moved recently after living nearly his entire life in Weymouth. He was 88.
Guided by
deep faith, Mr. Sheehan was a seminarian briefly after the war, before deciding
he wasn't cut out to be a priest. Yet when he opened a family law office, his
professional choices set a personal example.
"I
remember him telling me he wouldn't handle divorces," said his son, who
lives in Norwell and is chairman of the advertising firm Hill Holliday.
"When someone came to him with an estate and said they wanted to divide it
among their children unequally, he would say, 'You might want to see another
attorney for that.'"
Mr.
Sheehan knew he would face the family rift when such a client died, "and
he hated to see families ripped apart like that," his son said. "He
was absolutely adamant about equal shares among children. It bothered him
morally that one child might be loved more than another."
A son of
Irish immigrants, Frederick J. Sheehan grew up in North Weymouth during the
Depression, one of three children whose father commuted by public
transportation to a job repairing buses for the Eastern Massachusetts Street
Railway.
"His
mother kept a firm hand on the house and they both just set terrific examples
for my father," Mr. Sheehan's son said. "It was all hard work and it
was all integrity."
The
starting first baseman for Weymouth High School's baseball team, Mr. Sheehan played
well enough to land a tryout with the Boston Braves. As he left the field,
manager Casey Stengel called out: "Nice glove, kid."
A few
months later, Mr. Sheehan enlisted in the Army and was sent to Europe. He was
awarded a Bronze Star for his actions during the battle of Herrlisheim.
The Army
"wanted him to stay and go to officer school," his son said,
"but when he came home on leave, his father said, 'Fred, I think you've
had enough.' My grandfather was a man of very few words. My father said that
when he spoke, you listened, so he took that advice."
While
working in a job his father helped him land at Eastern Mass. railway, Mr.
Sheehan used the GI Bill to graduate from Boston University. He also received a
law degree from Boston College Law School in 1950 and, in 1978, a master's in
business administration from Babson College.
A family
friend suggested he might make a good federal agent, so after law school Mr.
Sheehan spent a year with the FBI in Virginia and West Virginia, "mostly
chasing moonshiners," his son said.
"Dad
was an extremely gentle person," he added. "He was not born to be a
law enforcement official. He told me many times that he'd go in and say, 'Why
don't you guys break up this still and when I come back it'll be gone. What do
you say?'"
Mr.
Sheehan left the FBI and entered St. John's Seminary in Brighton. Returning
home to Weymouth in the summer after his first year, clad in his black robe, he
was telling his family about his priesthood studies "and again his father
said, 'Fred, I think you've had enough,'" Mr. Sheehan's son said.
"And again he took it to heart, and he opened his law practice in
Quincy."
Through
the years, Mr. Sheehan also served in several state posts, including
comptroller, general attorney for the Metropolitan Transit Authority, and
chairman of the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.
Early on,
during the lean years of his private practice, a young woman volunteered to be
a typist in his office. Claire O'Brien was 10 years his junior and had grown up
down the street in Weymouth.
"He
thought that was great, and finally his mother said, 'Fred, I think she might
like you. People don't volunteer to work for free,'" Mr. Sheehan's son
said. "He was very earnest, very sincere, and he finally took the hint.
That is classic Dad. They were married on Memorial Day in 1955."
In
addition to his wife and son, Mr. Sheehan leaves another son, Fred Jr. of
Braintree; two daughters, Kathleen Speredelozzi of North Weymouth and
Mariclaire Buckley of Hingham; a sister, Catherine Flaherty of Braintree; a
brother, Jack, of South Weymouth; and 10 grandchildren.
A funeral
Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Monday in St. Jerome Church in North Weymouth.
Burial will be in the town's Old North Cemetery .
"He
had his beliefs and he never wavered," his son said, "and he loved
being around people."
Mr.
Sheehan served on Weymouth's Board of Public Works. He also had been on the
investment board of South Shore Bank and chaired the board of the Cardinal
Cushing Centers in Hanover. In retirement, he used the French he
learned during World War II and the Latin he studied in seminary to teach
languages as a volunteer at St. Jerome Elementary School in North Weymouth.
"He
made an impression wherever he went without being bombastic or ever needing the
spotlight. Everyone I met would say, 'I love your father,'" his son said.
"He led by example. That's the gift he gave all of us."
Bryan
Marquard can be reached at bmarquard@globe.com.
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