Harrington, Kevin B.

• Kevin B. Harrington (January 9, 1929 – November 27, 2008)was born in Salem, and a life long resident of the city, was the youngest

of six children by Cornelius J. and Mary (Whalen) Harrington. He was married to Kathleen for 53 years.

• A graduate of St. Mary's Boys High in Lynn and St. Louis University in St. Louis. He taught government and history and coached basketball

at Merrimack College. A member of a well-known political family, he was elected to the Salem City Council in 1957 and the Mass. State Senate in 1958, where he served for 20 years. He was also Senate president from 1971-1978.

• Harrington's greatest contributions were in the area of education. He was a teacher and coach for many years and spearheaded the state's first

major education reform initiative in the 1960's. Locally, he helped grow Salem State from a small teachers' college to a major institution of higher education.

• In 1978, he left the Senate over an incident concerning a campaign contribution. The incident did nothing to diminish the high esteem in which

he was held by friends and colleagues.

• His son Neil also inherited the politician genes: he was mayor of Salem from 1990-1997 after serving on city council from 1986-1989.

See Also

Vertical File in Salem Collection - Harrington Family

"Kevin B. Harrington (obituary)" Boston Globe, Nov. 30, 2008, , p. A25

"Salem mourns political legend" Salem News, Nov. 29, 2008 p. 1

"Kevin B. Harrington (obituary)" Salem News, Nov. 29, 2008, p. 6

"Harrington: Public policy journals tells story of Salem's most political family" Salem News, Jan. 12, 2001, p. 1

"Harrington leaves distinguished legacy of public service" Salem News, Dec. 2, 2008, p. 7