[B]RATTLEBORO — The man who wielded the gavel as Town Moderator at Brattleboro Town Meeting for more than two decades has died.
During Tuesday’s Select Board meeting, board member John Allen announced that Tim O’Connor died at 1:30 on Tuesday afternoon.
“I have some very sad news,” Allen said at the start of the meeting. “I’m not going to make it through. Timmy O’Connor passed away today at about 1:30 so it was a very short hard-fought Irish fight with, I believe, cancer.
“I will miss him and I will pray for you and your family,” Allen said, pulling out a stuffed leprechaun, which played an Irish song. “Love you, Tim.”
O’Connor, who born in Brattleboro on Dec. 13, 1936, served as a Democrat in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1969 to 1981. He was chairman of the House Judiciary Committee from 1973 to 1975 and served as Speaker of the House from 1975 to 1981. O’Connor’s election as Speaker was noteworthy because he was the first Democrat to hold the post since the 1850s. More remarkable was that throughout O’Connor’s tenure as Speaker, the Republicans held the majority in the House. In 1980, he launched an unsuccessful bid for the governor’s office.
House Speaker Mitzi Johnson issued a statement Tuesday evening about O’Connor’s lasting impact on the state. “Speaker O’Connor was known for his kindness, fairness, and pragmatic leadership,” Johnson wrote. “In his years leading the Vermont House, his unrivaled ability to build consensus and find common ground earned him genuine respect and support from all sides of the aisle.”
Before his career as a politician, O’Connor graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. He received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, afterwards beginning a practice in Brattleboro. O’Connor practiced law until his 2011 retirement, though he served as Town Meeting Moderator through 2012.
“I have observed Mr. O’Connor over the last two decades and admire his ability to conduct an orderly meeting while remaining fair and impartial,” local attorney Lawrin Crispe told the Reformer in 2013. Crispe succeeded O’Connor as Town Moderator.
O’Connor is survived by his wife, Martha, and his three children, Kerry, of Vernon, and Kate and Kevin, of Brattleboro.
Bob Audette can be contacted at raudette@reformer.com.
