Michael attended the Morse School and St. Catherine’s for grammar school. He was a proud graduate of Matignon High School (Class of 1966), and Boston College (B.A. in English, cum laude, 1970). He also received his master’s degree in Anglo-Irish Literature from University College-Dublin in 1975.

 

His working life was peppered with variety, with stints as a warehouse worker, letter carrier, librarian, lifeguard at Hampton and Salisbury beaches, Somerville High School English teacher, editor of The Somerville Journal, staff member of The William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences at UMass Boston, etc.

 

In his younger days he was quite the runner, having belonged to the track and cross-country teams in both high school and college. He continued to train and race into his 40s, participating in road races and marathons all over New England. In different years he finished 72nd and 73rd in the Boston Marathon. He also was an avid kayaker and mountain climber, scaling peaks all over New England, as well as reaching over 20,000 feet on Mt. Everest.

 

He was a very gifted writer. He had many poems, essays, fictional pieces, and a play published. He was witty and facile with words, both written and spoken. In the last dozen years or so he got into rap. His handle was Home Biscuit. Given the spontaneity of that form of popular, current, folk poetry, he enjoyed composing and performing his rap songs for friends and family for such occasions as birthdays, retirements, class reunions, successful car repairs, etc. He enjoyed the collegiality of the writing community and appreciated the many writers who helped him along the way, especially his friends at the Bagel Bards.

 

He mixed academia and literary interests easily. In his role at the Joiner Center at UMass Boston he organized and directed the Writers Workshop for more than twenty-five years. Internationally known authors from the New York Times best sellers list mixed with aspiring neophytes at readings, Q & As, workshops and the like for two weeks every June at the campus and out in the Greater Boston community. He was pleased to have played a key role in facilitating such creativity.

 

Perhaps his favorite activity was counseling and mentoring his students at both the high school and college level. To the end of his life, he continued to receive notes of thanks and appreciation from former students. Indeed, at the end, one of his former students, who had flown all the way from Texas on a day’s notice to visit him, was holding his hand as he died.

 

Visiting Hours will be Friday, September 9th from 3:00PM to 7:00PM from the George L. Doherty Funeral Home, 855 Broadway (Powder House Sq.), Somerville. The Funeral Mass will be at 10:00AM on Saturday at St. Catherine’s Church, 179 Summer St., Somerville. Burial will follow at St. Paul’s Cemetery in East Arlington. A luncheon reception will follow. Masks are respectfully encouraged at both the wake and funeral service.