‘He just loved helping people’: Friends remember former Holyoke Mayor Martin J. Dunn

HOLYOKE — Martin J. Dunn is being remembered as a loyal friend and someone always happy to help others.

A native son of Holyoke who served his city as alderman, mayor and state senator, Dunn died Friday at age 64.

“I valued his friendship and loyalty,” U.S. Rep. Richard Neal said of Dunn. “When he ran for the mayor’s seat in Holyoke, we would meet and I mentored him. He was a gifted and gritty politician. You can’t come through urban politics without being determined, and he was. I lost a good friend.”

Neal said Dunn was a Holyoker through and through, but when he later ran for and won the state Senate seat, he was a good regional representative.

“The people of Holyoke love Holyoke no matter what, and Marty was one of them,” Neal said. “But when he was in the state Senate he advocated for the whole district, Holyoke and Chicopee and Easthampton.”

Kathy Dunn said her husband was a happy guy who lived well.

“He had a great life, he had a great career with wonderful friends and family. He had no regrets,” she said.

Kathy Dunn said she has been hearing from many people her husband helped over the years.

“Someone brought me a letter from 40 years ago,” she said. “It was a thank-you. Marty had gotten this man a job and it changed his life. It gave the man a career he just retired from. I didn’t know.”

The nephew of one of the Paper City’s most storied politicians, the late Senate President Maurice A. “Mossie” Donohue, Dunn began his political career as an alderman in 1984. He was elected Holyoke’s 39th mayor in 1987 and served two terms before he was elected to the state Senate.

As a senator, he was chairman of the Committee of Local Affairs and was named Legislator of the Year in 1992 by the Massachusetts Teachers' Association.

An attorney, Dunn did not seek reelection to the Senate in 1993 but continued to work as its legal counsel for more than a decade, participating extensively in the state budgetary process and the drafting and analysis of legislation.

Afterward he returned to private practice. He was a partner in the law firm of Dunn & Wilson, with attorney Thomas N. Wilson, until his death.

Fellow attorney Jack Ferriter said he met Dunn when he was 10 years old and Dunn was 12.

“He was actually a friend of my older brother’s,” Ferriter said. “Even though he was older he treated me the same as anyone else. He always did that. It didn’t matter if you were a king or a pauper, Marty treated everyone the same.”

The two became close friends and colleagues, many times working on the same cases together. But the most important time for each was the early morning walks they took almost every day at the Whitney Reservoir. They were joined by mutual friend Aaron “Bennie” Wilson many days.

“He would talk about the things he did for people, how he wrote a letter of recommendation for someone or helped with an application for another,” Ferriter said. “It occurred to me that for all the favors he did for people, he never asked for anything back. He just loved helping people. I would hear it all the time on our walks — how much he did for people — but he never expected anything in return.”

Ferriter said one of the best things he can remember about Dunn was he called everyone his friend.

“When he talked about someone he said, ‘my friend’ whomever, or when he introduced you to someone he would say, ‘I’d like you to meet my friend,’” Ferriter said. “One time we were out somewhere and we bumped into a friend of Marty’s and he said to the person, ‘I would like you to meet my friend Jack Ferriter.’ Just hearing that made my day. I felt as though I had made it into the inner sanctum. I will miss my friend.”

Wilson agreed.

“Marty is one of the finest Americans God ever made,” he said.

A fellow attorney, lifelong Holyoke resident and one of the reservoir walkers, Wilson said his younger brother was a childhood friend of Dunn’s. Later they got to know each other through work.

“We walked the reservoir and solved the world’s problems,” Wilson laughed. “One thing about Marty was he was always doing something for somebody. He was getting someone a job or asking favors for someone else. Half the time he didn’t get paid for what he did for his clients. It didn’t matter. He loved to do stuff for people.”

Former City Councilor Patti Devine said Dunn was thoughtful and did his homework as alderman, mayor and senator. He also had an irrepressible sense of fun.

“He had the greatest laugh,” she said. “You could hear him over anything. He got along with just about everyone, even a lot of the old-time politicians.”

Current City Councilor Joe McGiverin has known Dunn since they were in the third grade together. He said the two bonded over Catholic Youth Organization and YMCA sports. In 1984, with McGiverin already sitting on the Board of Alderman, Dunn ran and was elected.

“He was all about taking care of Holyoke and the people who elected him,” McGiverin said. “He worked to try and bring jobs and good housing. He was a strong supporter of Holyoke. Always doing things for people, his constituents or colleagues. If you asked him for his help he could not say no. Some say it was a fault, but that is who he was. It was ingrained in his fabric. He was always looking out for people.”

Current Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse hailed Dunn for his loyalty as well as his service to residents. Morse said he could tell Dunn was unwavering in his support for friends and supporters.

“Marty worked hard against me when I first ran for Mayor in 2011 — not because he disliked me, although maybe he did at the time — but because he was a model of what loyalty looks like to those he knows and supports,” Morse said in an emailed statement Saturday.

“Everyone who knows Marty knows he would do anything for a friend. He loved people; he loved to help others. It’s what made him happy and brought him joy.”

Dunn was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Holyoke Democratic Committee in 2015. In 2018, he was awarded a medal by the St. Thomas More Society for his achievements and years of service to the community. More is the patron saint of lawyers.

A graduate of Columbia University, Dunn earned his law degree from Suffolk University Law School in 1982.

Dunn graduated from Holyoke High School in 1974 and Mount Hermon Academy in 1975.

Funeral arrangements will be handled by the Barry J. Farrell Funeral Home in Holyoke. Details have not been finalized.

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