There was no city council meeting this week so today we have more Lowell political history . . .

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Over the course of four weeks earlier this summer, I posted mini biographies of those who have served as mayors of Lowell since the receipt of the city charter in 1836. (Lowell was a town in its first decade.) In 1943, the people of Lowell adopted the Plan E form of government which featured a city council elected by the voters and a city manager elected by councilors. Today, I am posting sketches of the eighteen individuals who have served as city manager since that office was created in Lowell. (I have not included those who filled the office temporarily, as City Clerk Michael Geary has done on several occasions.)

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John J. Flannery was Lowell’s first city manager. He was hired on January 4, 1944, and resigned on November 18, 1952, having held the job for nearly nine years. Flannery was born in Lowell in 1898. At age 17, he began working at the United State Cartridge Company where he remained until the company closed in 1927. That year, he became the Permanent Secretary of the Lowell Lodge of Elks. In 1940, he became the city treasurer, a position he held until being hired as city manager. His salary was $15,000 and he never took a vacation in his nine years as manager. Flannery died in Lowell on February 1, 1958, at age 60. He is buried in St. Patrick Cemetery.

Ulysses J. Lupien was Lowell’s second city manager. He was hired by the city council on November 29, 1952, and began work on December 1, 1952. The council that took office a month later clashed with Lupien who was fired on November 11, 1953, by a five to three vote. Lupien was born in Wayland, Massachusetts, on December 12, 1883. He grew up and went to school in that town then graduated from Harvard. He was hired by Lowell Textile Institute to teach mechanical engineering which led him to move to Chelmsford where he bought a home. He taught for ten years then became the head of industrial relations for the Pacific Mills in Lawrence. In 1939, he was hired to be the state’s Director of Civil Service, a position he held until 1944. He continued to live in Chelmsford after his time as city manager but died in Lowell on August 15, 1965, at age 81. He is buried in West Chelmsford Cemetery in Chelmsford.

Frank E. Barrett was Lowell’s third city manager. He was hired on November 18, 1953, and was fired on January 2, 1962, during the council inauguration ceremony (something commonly done in the early days of Plan E). Barrett was born in Lowell on January 19, 1907, and graduated from Lowell High and the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. He briefly worked as a banker in New York City but returned to Lowell and worked at several jobs until 1940 when he was hired as a reporter at the Lowell Sun. In fact, he was the newspaper’s City Hall reporter when he was hired as city manager. After his time as manager, he owned and operated Frank E. Barrett Real Estate Company. He died in Lowell on October 14, 1988, at age 81. He is buried in St. Patrick Cemetery.

Cornelius F. Desmond was Lowell’s fourth city manager. He was hired on January 4, 1962, and retired on October 29, 1963, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. Desmond was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on October 4, 1893. His family moved to Lowell when he was a child, and he graduated from Lowell High School. He served in the US Army during World War One, then worked in the circulation department of several newspapers in New York and Boston until the 1930s when he was hired to be a supervisor in the New Deal’s WPA program. In 1940, he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives where he served for eleven terms. (For nearly a year after being elected city manager, he continued to serve as a state representative until that term ended.) He died in Lowell on October 1, 1974, at age 80. He is buried in St. Patrick Cemetery.

1963. Harold Ready was Lowell’s fifth city manager. He was elected on October 29, 1963, and began as city manager on November 1, 1963. He retired as city manager in November 1966. Ready was born in Lowell on April 12, 1900. He graduated from Boston University Law School in 1920 and practiced law in Lowell for 60 years. He served as legal counsel for the Lowell Housing Authority and the Town of Billerica before being hired as the Lowell City Solicitor in 1942. He remained city solicitor until 1952 and then returned to that position in 1962. Upon the retirement of Cornelius Desmond as city manager, the city council immediately hired Ready, who was serving as city solicitor at the time. Ready died in Lowell on January 5, 1987, at age 86. He is buried in St. Patrick Cemetery.

Charles A. Gallagher was Lowell’s sixth city manager. He was elected on November 23, 1966, by a seven to two vote. He resigned on August 10, 1970. Gallagher was born in Lowell on September 14, 1914. As a young man he worked in the Hillsboro Mills in Wilton, New Hampshire. He was hired by the Lowell City Treasurer’s office in the late 1930s and, after serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, became City Treasurer. He was in that position when hired to be city manager. In 1971, less than a year after leaving the manager’s position, he was elected to the city council and served two terms. He died in Boston on April 6, 1993, at age 78. He is buried in St. Mary Cemetery in Tewksbury.

James L. Sullivan was Lowell’s seventh city manager. He was elected on September 29, 1970, and resigned on March 29, 1974, to take the job of city manager of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Sullivan was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, on December 11, 1925. During World War II, he saw combat in the Pacific while serving in the U.S. Navy. After the war he graduated from Boston College and became a schoolteacher. While teaching, he earned a master’s in public administration from B.C. and then became the assistant town manager of Arlington, Massachusetts. From that job, he was hired to be Cambridge City Manager, however, after two years, he was fired from that position. Lowell then hired Sullivan who served as city manager until 1974 when he was hired back by Cambridge where he served as manager until 1981. Thereafter, he was the president of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce until his retirement in 1991. He remained a resident of Lowell until very late in life. He died on September 26, 2012, in New Jersey. He is buried in the New Hampshire Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen, New Hampshire.

Paul J. Sheehy was Lowell’s eighth city manager. He was elected on April 24, 1974, and served until September 5, 1975, when he resigned. Sheehy was born in Lowell on November 1, 1934. He graduated from Keith Academy and Lowell State Teachers College (now UMass Lowell). While teaching school in Lowell, he attended the night program at Suffolk University Law School. After passing the bar, he began practicing law and was also elected as a state representative. He served in that office until 1972 when he ran for Congress (he lost the Democratic primary to John Kerry who lost the general election to Paul Cronin). After serving as Lowell City Manager, Sheehy worked in the Congressional offices of Joseph Early in Worcester and James Shannon in Lowell. In 1984, Sheehy was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate and served three terms. He died in Lowell on March 10, 2014, at age 79. He is buried in Lowell Cemetery.

William S. Taupier was Lowell’s ninth city manager. He was elected on October 14,1975 and resigned on May 23, 1979. Taupier was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, on September 24, 1936. He graduated from Boston College and returned to Holyoke where he was elected as an alderman and then, in 1967, the city’s mayor. He served as mayor until 1975 when he chose not to run for reelection, although he was still mayor of Holyoke when he was hired to be Lowell City Manager. After finishing in that position, Taupier remained in Lowell and was self-employed as a real estate and business consultant. In 1995, he was elected to the Lowell School Committee and served two terms. Taupier died in Lowell on December 3, 2014, at age 78. He is buried in Mount Saint Benedict Cemetery in Bloomfield, Connecticut.

1987. Joseph Tully was Lowell’s tenth city manager. He was elected on June 20, 1979, and served until his resignation in early 1987. Tully was born in Lowell on January 4, 1927. He graduated from Keith Academy and served in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War Two. After the war, he worked as a manufacturer’s representative, doing business as Tully Associates. He moved to Dracut and was elected as a selectman. In 1970, he was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate where he served until becoming city manager. After his time in that office, he was self-employed as a business consultant. He died in Lowell on November 1, 2015. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Dracut.

[NOTE: sketches for former city managers who are still alive may contain fewer biographical details since I have obtained much of that information about deceased city managers from their obituaries.]

James J. Campbell was Lowell’s eleventh city manager. He was elected on January 7, 1987, and served until his resignation on September 6, 1991. Campbell served as Assistant City Manager under Joe Tully. When Tully resigned, the council elected Campbell to succeed him. In August 1991, Governor William Weld appointed Campbell to serve as the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents.

Richard Johnson was Lowell’s twelfth city manager. He was elected on November 26, 1991, and resigned on July 19, 1995. Johnson got his start in politics in Taunton, Massachusetts, as an assistant to the mayor of that city and as director of the Taunton Housing Authority. In 1981, he was elected mayor of Taunton and was reelected to four more two-year terms. He was defeated in 1991, however, and soon after leaving office was hired in Lowell. After resigning as Lowell City Manager, he became a vice president of Veolia Water North America, a global water and waste management firm.

Brian Martin was Lowell’s thirteenth city manager. He was elected on August 25, 1995, and resigned in June 2000. Martin was born in Lowell and graduated from Lowell High School and UMass Amherst. He was a teacher and athletic coach at Greater Lowell Vocational High School. He was elected to the Lowell City Council in 1981 and served as the city’s mayor in 1984-85. He left the council in 1988 to become an assistant city manager in the James Campbell administration and continued serving under Richard Johnson. When Johnson left, a unanimous city council selected Martin as his successor. After leaving the office of city manager, Martin became a senior official at Lowell-based Joan Fabrics. In 2005, he became athletic director of the Lowell Public Schools and in 2013 was selected to be the Lowell High School head of schools, a position he held until his retirement in 2017.

John Cox was Lowell’s fourteenth city manager. He was elected on July 7, 2000, and resigned in April 2006, effective July 26, 2006. Cox was born in Lowell and graduated from Lowell High School, Salem State College, and New England School of Law. He practiced law in the city and was elected as a state representative in 1982. He served in the Massachusetts House until 1994 when he did not seek reelection. He continued practicing law both before and after serving as city manager.

Bernie Lynch was Lowell’s fifteenth city manager. He was elected on June 30, 2006, taking office on July 31. He resigned on January 7, 2014. Lynch was born in Ashland, Massachusetts. He graduated from UMass Lowell and then received a master’s in public administration from UMass Amherst. He was hired by the town of Chelmsford in 1986 and became that town’s first town manager in 1989. He served there until he was hired in Lowell. Since he left the office of Lowell City Manager, he has owned and operated a municipal government consulting firm with an extensive roster of clients throughout Massachusetts.

Kevin Murphy was Lowell’s sixteenth city manager. He was elected in April 2014 and served until his retirement in April 2018. Murphy was born in Lowell and graduated from Keith Academy, Boston College and Suffolk University Law School. He worked as a legislative aide and then practiced law in Lowell, including as an assistant city solicitor. In 1996, he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives and served there until he was elected city manager. After leaving the manager’s office, Murphy resumed practicing law in Greater Lowell.

Eileen Donoghue was Lowell’s seventeenth city manager. She was elected on March 28, 2018, and served until her retirement on April 11, 2022. Donoghue was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, graduated from UMass Amherst, and moved to Lowell while attending Suffolk University Law School. She worked as a federal public defender and then established her own law practice. She was elected to the Lowell City Council in 1995 and served until 2007 when she did not seek reelection. She also served consecutive terms as mayor in 1998 and 2000. In 2012, she was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate and served there until 2018 when she was hired to be Lowell City Manager. After leaving the manager’s office, Donoghue resumed her Lowell law practice.

Thomas Golden is Lowell’s eighteenth city manager. He was elected on March 30, 2022, and took office on April 28, 2022. Golden was born in Lowell and is a graduate of Lowell High School and UMass Lowell. He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1994 and served there until being elected city manager.

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This week in my Seen & Heard column, I reviewed the book Rasputin: The Downfall of the Romanovs; commented on a story about the late US Senator Lindsey Graham; commented on The Vergecast podcast episode, “You can’t ignore Google Zero anymore;” and mentioned an edition of the GBH newsletter on Lowell has an art destination.