ARLINGTON, Mass. (AP) - State Sen. Kenneth Donnelly, a former local fire department veteran who as a politician was known for fighting for issues including mental health care and employment training, has died of a brain tumor. He was 66 years old.
He died Sunday surrounded by family, his office said. He had fought the brain tumor for eight months.
Donnelly, a Democrat, represented the 4th Middlesex District, including Arlington, Burlington, Billerica, Woburn and Lexington. Before becoming a senator he was a firefighter for 37 years in Lexington. He also served as secretary-treasurer of the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts group and was a founding board member of the Massachusetts Fallen Firefighters Memorial.
The firefighters group said it was a sad day for firefighters in Massachusetts and across the country.
“Ken’s legacy in the fire service is of a fighter,” the group’s president, Rich MacKinnon Jr., said in a statement. “He was a fighter for our health and safety, our benefits and making sure our retirees and families were always taken care of.”
He said Donnelly was “a driving force” in the passage of every significant piece of legislation affecting firefighters from 1986, when he became a legislative agent for the group, through 2009, when he retired as secretary-treasurer to become a senator.
Some of the causes Donnelly championed during his political career were increasing access to mental health services, funding workforce training for the unemployed and protecting homeless families and retirees on fixed incomes.
Donnelly is survived by his wife of 43 years, three children and five grandchildren.
Wake and funeral arrangements will be announced later, his office said.
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