Skip to contents
In This Issue:
BWH joined the Mission Hill and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods in mourning the loss of former state Representative Kevin Fitzgerald this week. Mr. Fitzgerald, who served on Beacon Hill for 28 years, died Monday following a battle with cancer. He was 57.
“Representative Fitzgerald was a great friend to BWH and our health centers. We join the city of Boston in mourning his loss and remembering his legacy of community service,” said BWH President Gary Gottlieb, MD, MBA.
Mr. Fitzgerald was first elected to the House in 1975 and served there for 28 years, rising to the powerful post of majority whip. For the last five years, he served as the House Sergeant at Arms.
Mr. Fitzgerald was instrumental in ensuring the positive relationship between BWH and the other LMA institutions and the neighborhood. He was a driving force behind the formation of the Roxbury Tenants of Harvard.
“If it were not for Kevin’s friendship and leadership, we never would have been able to build ASB II, and he was a great help and early supporter of the Shapiro Cardiovascular Center,” said Paula McNichols, executive director of the Brookside Community Health Center and longtime friend of Mr. Fitzgerald.
“He was an early and ongoing supporter of community health centers and a vocal and effective proponent of extending access to quality care to everyone,” she added.
Mr. Fitzgerald is survived by many family members and friends, including his brother Daniel J. Fitzgerald, BWH’s chief perfusionist in Cardiac Surgery, and his sister Eileen Fitzgerald, RN, a staff nurse on Connors Center 8.