Finneran: The Mensch’s Mensch

Friday, February 21, 2020

Tom Finneran, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

Tom Finneran

He was right out of the movies, a character’s character.

His name was Albie Sherman and he was my friend.

Being Albie’s friend meant two things. One, was that you were merely one person in a cast of many many thousands. Two, Albie always had yet another friend or an important cause for whom or for which he was enlisting your “invaluable help”. You simply could not say no to Albie Sherman.

Of course, what made it easy to say yes was that his friends and his causes were always deserving. Albie never asked for anything for himself. It was always for others.

We’d laugh about that generous habit of solicitude for others less fortunate, as I would ask if he was Catholic in upbringing. Without batting an eye, he would remind me that he was a simple Jewish kid and that I had an open invitation to join him at temple every Saturday. I told him that he deserved to be named Boston’s Catholic of the Year, year after year.

Some years ago, my wife and I travelled to Israel with Albie and a small group of Greater Bostonians. Albie was our guru and our guide in that storied holy land, a land where Albie once again seemed to know another considerable cast of thousands.

This Jewish kid from Mattapan, by way of Roxbury and Dorchester, graduated from Boston English High School, where according to legend, he ran track with Louis Farrakhan. Now Farrakhan can talk and talk and talk but he could not hold a candle to my friend Albie. Albie could talk while asleep underwater.

And being a city kid, Albie knew how to maneuver with the best of them. He knew bishops and bookies, cabbies and con men, authors and angels. He was quick with a quip and never at a loss for words. He knew whom to see and how to get things done.

A particularly enduring memory involves Albie’s work on behalf of the UMass Medical School. That school simply would not be on the map without Albie Sherman’s unrivalled advocacy. His own life had informed him that there were some very smart young people in Boston’s neighborhoods---black and white and brown boys and girls---whose dreams of becoming doctors were often dashed by the cold reality of economics. He thought that a public medical school, with the highest academic standards and with a generous state appropriation, would help serve the needs of every family in Massachusetts. His wisdom and his insight about the now-renowned UMass Medical School endures to this day. In fact, the Albert Sherman Research Center on the Medical School’s campus reflects the measure of his tireless devotion.

The Latin phrase “sui generis” means unique or one of a kind. The Yiddish word “mensch” means a trustworthy and honorable human being.

Albie Sherman was sui generis. And Albie was a mensch’s mensch.

Shalom Aleichem my friend. Rest in peace.

Tom Finneran is the former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, served as the head the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, and was a longstanding radio voice in Boston radio.