A memorial service for late Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank filled Faneuil Hall with tributes and laughter Monday morning.
Frank, who served in Congress for more than three decades before retiring in 2013, was remembered by dozens of friends, family members and some of the state’s highest-ranking elected officials. They spoke of his razor-sharp wit, his political savvy and his work on civil rights and the Dodd-Frank Act, crafted to protect the banking system and consumers in the wake of the global financial crisis.
Frank died May 20 at his home in Ogunquit, Maine, at age 86.
In attendance were former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Secretary of State John Kerry, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, Congress members Katherine Clark, Jim McGovern and Richard Neal, along with former Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and dozens of other local and state officials.
Members of Frank’s family and many of his former Washington staffers also filled the pews at the hall, telling stories of his most devastating comebacks and caustic jabs — delivered to friends and foes alike.
At one point, Marty Meehan, president of the University of Massachusetts system and a former congressman, asked how many people in attendance had ever been yelled at by Frank. At least half the room raised their hands.
To begin the morning service, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu kicked off her remarks with a wave to the wider room: “ It feels especially fitting that we’re doing it here because, like Barney Frank,” she said, “Faneuil Hall was built for argument.” She recalled Frank’s legacy of coalition-building in Boston, beginning with his time as chief of staff to former Mayor Kevin White.
Frank, born in Bayonne, New Jersey, had described himself as an outsider in plain terms: “I’m a left-handed, gay Jew.”
To rousing laughter, Gov. Maura Healey said she could relate: “I’m not left-handed, I’m not Jewish, but one out of three isn’t bad.”
The governor described Frank as “brilliant, fearless and hilarious” and also “guided by a deep sense of moral seriousness.”
Frank was seen as a trailblazer and an inspiration to the LGBTQ+ community. A reporter in 1987 asked him if he was gay.
“Yeah,” he responded. “So what?”
Frank was the first U.S. representative to voluntarily come out as gay and the first sitting member of Congress to marry someone of the same sex.
Before the service, Kerry told WBUR Frank was an “extraordinary public servant,” one who had a firmly planted belief structure: “He knew what he thought, knew what he believed, knew it was important, and he fought like hell for it.”
From the podium, McGovern talked about Frank’s love of country, saying he was a patriot — and an intrepid and audacious one at that.
“Barney was always quick on his feet, but he saved his sharpest retorts for the people who deserved it most, for the haters and the bigots, for the people who punched down, for the pearl-clutching snake oil salesmen who offered division and discord,” McGovern said. “He was funny and he was fierce, but his passion had a purpose.”
Frank fought for civil rights, affordable housing and women’s rights, including abortion rights.
“He fought for affordable housing because he knew that it is immoral that in a country as great as ours, that people were sleeping in the streets. He fought against hunger because he believed that in the richest country in the history of the world, no child should go to bed hungry,” McGovern said. “And he fought for gay rights, not only because he was gay, but because he saw a community that was being persecuted and bullied by people in power, and he could not tolerate a bully.”
He did all of that, said his longtime friend Jim Segel, and never lost his sense of humor.
Frank “filed bills in 1973 to legalize prostitution, to legalize pornography, to legalize marijuana, to legalize gambling,” Segel recalled. “Finally, a representative from New Bedford, Ed Coury, stood up and said, ‘Mr. Speaker, when is the representative from Back Bay going to stop?’ ”
Frank reportedly responded with his characteristic edge: “Mr. Speaker, when I find out what the gentleman from New Bedford enjoys, I will stop.”
In his final days, Frank’s younger brother, David Frank, described the former congressman’s “unconventional media tour in hospice,” during which he discussed with a string of reporters his forthcoming book, “The Hard Path to Unity: Why We Must Reform the Left to Rescue Democracy.”
David Frank choked up when thanking his brother’s husband, Jim Ready, for his “boundless devotion.”
When Ready spoke, he said he was overwhelmed by an outpouring of love and support — including at least 5 pounds of mailed sympathy cards. He also said he was devastated by the loss.
“This morning I couldn’t even say his name without breaking down,” he said.
Recently, Ready had to find an urn for Frank, who opted to be cremated. He picked one shaped like a lighthouse.
“I just felt that that was perfect,” he said, “because he’s a beacon of light.”
Pelosi, the former House Speaker, flew in from California for the service. She said Frank “deeply believed that government could be a force for good in people’s lives, to expand opportunity, protect consumers, expand and defend civil rights, and strengthen our democracy.”
This story was originially published by WBUR and was shared in part of the NENC. For more photos, view the original article here.
