Former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank dies at age 86 – NBC4 Washington

Former Democratic Congressman Barney Frank, who represented broad swaths of Boston’s suburbs in Congress for more than three decades and was best known as a pioneer for LGBTQ rights, died Tuesday night at the age of 86, his sister and a close family friend confirmed.

Frank had been in hospice care at his home in Ogunquit, Maine, in recent months, being treated for congestive heart failure. He is survived by his husband, Jim Ready, and sisters, Ann Lewis and Doris Breay, along with brother David Frank.

“He was, above all else, a wonderful brother. I was lucky to be his sister,” Breay told NBC10 Boston Wednesday morning.

Born in 1940 in Bayonne, New Jersey, Frank wrote in his 2015 memoir that he was drawn to public life after Emmett Till, a Black 14-year-old from Chicago, was lynched by white men in Mississippi.

Frank entered politics in 1968 as an aide to Boston Mayor Kevin White before winning a seat in the Massachusetts House in 1972. Frank was elected to Congress in 1980, representing Massachusetts until 2013.

Frank, who was known for his focus on marginalized communities, publicly came out as gay in 1987, the first member of Congress to do so voluntarily. With his 2012 marriage to Ready, he became the first incumbent lawmaker on Capitol Hill to marry someone of the same sex.

By 2007, Frank was the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, where he would leave his lasting policy mark as the U.S. economy careened toward collapse. He worked with the Republican Bush administration to pass a rescue package, providing vital support to financial institutions but spurring a populist revolt that still courses through American politics.

Once the initial crisis eased, Frank helped develop the most significant reform legislation since the New Deal. Working with then-Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the Dodd-Frank Act would enhance consumer protections, impose new capital requirements for banks and boost the ability of regulators to monitor risk.

“Barney and I shared a fantastic relationship,” Dodd said. “I had many good moments in those 36 years in Congress, but none more significant, joyful, or productive than those almost two years working with Barney on our banking bill.”

Frank faced his toughest reelection campaign in years in 2010 as the tea party wave swept over American politics. He opted against running again in 2012.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey announced Wednesday that she had ordered that the U.S. flag and the state flag be lowered to half-staff at all state buildings immediately until sunset on the day of Frank’s internment in honor of his life and legacy and the recognition of his passing.

“Barney Frank was one of a kind — a giant in public life who helped change Massachusetts and America for the better,” a heartbroken Healey wrote in a statement. “Over the course of his career, Barney fought tirelessly for working people, civil rights, and LGBTQ+ equality. He was brilliant, fearless, quick-witted, and never afraid to say exactly what was on his mind. Barney was a relentless advocate and someone who understood both the urgency and the complexity of the issues he took on…His legacy of courage, intellect, and progress will endure for generations to come.”

NBC10 Boston political reporter Matt Prichard and political commentator Sue O’Connell discuss comments from former Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank, who discussed progressives and litmus tests, how that might apply to the MA Senate Democratic primary, the impact of the recent redistricting that we’ve seen across the country and sizing up the Maine Senate race now that Gov. Janet Mills has dropped out.

Frank, who remained engaged in politics long after leaving Congress and was a fierce critic of President Donald Trump, spoke with NBC10 Boston earlier this month from hospice care, taking aim at Democratic priorites and calling on the party to step back from social issues like trans rights.

“That’s the approach the transgender community should take to male-to-female transgenders playing in women’s sports,” Frank said. “That’s very controversial. Other issues are, I think more important, but also less toxic, like getting good medical care, guaranteeing that for people, guaranteeing people the right to designate their genders, and they should put off the most controversial.”

While he was still seeking to influence the here-and-now in his final days, he said he was also looking beyond this life and showing appreciation for the well wishes that were coming his way.

“It’s not fun facing the death sentence, but it becomes less — frankly, less depressing, less of an emotional attack, when it’s offset by all these very generous comments,” Frank said.

Reaction to Frank’s death

“Our City and our nation were lucky to have him in our corner,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement Wednesday. “On Behalf of the City of Boston, we send our sincere condolences to the Frank family and Congressman Frank’s many loved ones.”

Democratic Whip Katherine Clark was among the politicians reacting to the news Wednesday morning that Barney had died, calling him “a titan of Massachusetts politics, a trailblazing LGBTQ+ icon, and a lifelong champion for civil rights, equal dignity, and economic fairness.”

“As Chair of the Financial Services Committee, he led the effort to hold Wall Street accountable, deliver affordable housing, and usher in a more just, inclusive America for working people,” Clark wrote on social media. “Our country is better because of Barney’s leadership.”

Here’s more social media reaction:

Read Mayor Wu’s full statement:

• “Congressman Barney Frank’s storied legacy in Washington is well-known, but his impact on Boston began long before that. As chief of staff to Mayor Kevin White, he shaped every aspect of the City’s agenda, from opening school buildings for adult education, to bringing City Hall services directly into the neighborhoods.
  
  “From City Hall to Beacon Hill to Capitol Hill, he never hid any part of who he was, and generations of people saw themselves in public life because of it. He didn’t suffer fools, and never pretended to. A lion of Congress and a champion for working people, he devoted much of his life to understanding how power works in this country—then used that knowledge to take on Wall Street, and win.
  
  “Our City and our nation were lucky to have him in our corner. On behalf of the City of Boston, we send our sincere condolences to the Frank family and Congressman Frank’s many loved ones.”

Steven Sloan from the Associated Press contributed to this report