David Martin, who kept a generation of Massachusetts Democratic leaders on course through his steady counsel, passion for public service and brilliance with the arcane rules that govern politics, died Saturday after an extended battle with cancer. He was just 52.
A fiercely loyal friend, loving husband and doting father to his three daughters, Martin was the often unnamed but invaluable advisor to dozens of candidates for offices from local town halls, the State House, Congress and the White House. From Selectmen to Speakers and Senators, David brought the same care, wit and biting one-liners that fuel the bare knuckled, exhausting world of campaigns and those guided by his sound, balanced hand lined up to pay tribute to him.
“David was a great man and a respected member of my team,” said Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh. “He was thoughtful and confident in his work, and he was an all-around great guy to everyone who knew him. He was taken from us too soon and he will be missed by many.”
“David offered wise and seasoned judgment and calm counsel to all of us who had the privilege to work with him,” said Attorney General Maura Healey. “More than that, he was the most thoroughly decent human being, who in service of those seeking to hold public office, inspired all of us to our better selves.”
“David was a highly-skilled and knowledgeable expert, who became a friend,” said House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo. “He demonstrated a consummate professionalism while possessing a sense of humor about his work and the world at large.”
“It is with great sadness that the world of Massachusetts politics says goodbye to one of their own,” said Senate President Stan Rosenberg. “David Martin was the consummate professional, diligent, hard-working with an attention to detail that made him one of the most sought out and trusted people in the field.”
Congressman Stephen F. Lynch noted that Martin recently told him theirs was an “unlikely” friendship – presumably because Martin was admittedly more liberal than the Congressman.
“I think he thought of me as a work in progress. He was a practicing Liberal though. He was kind and generous and tolerant and forgiving,” Lynch said. “And he had a great sense of humor. Thank God for that. And throughout his illness which was long and difficult he showed that rare courage which was deeply rooted in the love he had for Gemma and their girls. He was a good and decent man and he will be greatly missed.”
Born in Colorado, the son to active Democratic parents in the largely Republican state, Martin graduated from Colorado College with a degree in political science and cut his teeth in politics with Democratic Congressman Timothy Wirth, who represented the suburbs of Denver and he later joined U.S. Senator Gary Hart’s campaign for president in 1988. After Hart’s campaign ended, Martin joined the front-running campaign of Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis and moved from Iowa to Boston.
It was on the Dukakis campaign that he met his future bride, Gemma Ward Martin, and began an inspired love affair with both her and Massachusetts politics that endured the rest of his days.
“David was a mensch personally and politically and one of the funniest people I knew,” said Jack Corrigan, a Boston lawyer who was deputy campaign manager for Dukakis in 1988. “His humor helped everyone around him manage adversity. His romance with Gemma and their subsequent marriage was one of the best things to come out of the 1988 campaign. "
On arriving in Boston, David’s campaign co-workers offered to tour him around the city and one of them, Gemma, offered to take him to Maine one day.
“David thought it was a date – a fact I didn’t realize until he kissed me goodbye at the end of the day,” Gemma Martin said with a laugh. “A week later, we had what I considered our first date and never looked back.”
The couple’s three daughters, Allison, Emily and Vivian, were his pride and joy. Spending time with them – from taking the train from their Dedham home in to Boston with them and their American Girl Dolls when they were young to diving in to holidays, outings at their beloved summer place in Eastham or his late-blossomed but ferocious love for the New England Patriots, the Martin girls were never far from David’s side.
After the Dukakis campaign, David worked in finance and accounting roles for Attorney General Francis Bellotti’s 1990 campaign for Governor and was manager of information technology in the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.
“He really leaves a void,” said former Congressman William Delahunt, who was District Attorney when David Martin worked in the office. “Among his many achievements, he modernized the District Attorney's office, computerizing case management for the first time in the early 1990's.”
David was deputy campaign manager for Senator John F. Kerry’s epic 1996 reelection campaign against Governor William F. Weld. For a decade, he was Director of Finance and Administration at Mass Inc., the respected non-partisan think tank in Boston and later worked in senior roles at two public policy and advocacy nonprofits, The Green Roundtable and Second Nature, while continuing to work in senior roles on local and state political campaigns.
In 2003, he and Gemma decided to take what was then a side job in political accounting and compliance and turn it into their successful consulting firm, The Chick Montana Group. The name always tripped up politicians used to seeing firms named solely after their founders or principals.
“David hated seeing his name in federal or state campaign finance reports so ‘The Chick Montana Group’ was born – named, of course, after David’s favorite villain from an episode of Perry Mason,” said Gemma Ward Martin.
Over the 13 years and continuing today, the Chick Montana Group is the go-to source for financial and reporting practices for politicians and nonprofit organizations.
“David and Gemma are always calm and reassuring voices in the midst of the near daily crises every campaign experiences,” said Steve Kerrigan, the 2014 Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor. ?“More than that, they are as decent and ethical as they come – rare and phenomenally important traits in politics, government and nonprofits.”
Their roster of clients is a who’s who of political heavyweights in Massachusetts – the Massachusetts Democratic Party, members of Congress, state Constitutional Officers, members of the state Legislature and more.
“Focus on the future and delegate the details to us – that’s the motto of the Chick Montana Group, David and Gemma’s successful business,” said Tom McGee, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party. “If you’re a Democratic campaign, candidate or cause in Massachusetts, that’s what you do – you place your trust in David and Gemma. So many of us across Massachusetts will miss partnering with David but we’ll forever cherish his friendship.”
“David was a good man, a friend and a deeply respected member of our team,” said Congressman Joe Kennedy III. “He will be missed immensely by his friends, his family and the colleagues who loved him. I send my love and prayers to Gemma and his children.”
Outside of his work, David loved photography and bird watching and volunteered as the longest-serving chairman of the Dedham Finance Committee in his hometown.
He was honored locally for his service at all levels through challenging times in the town.
“David Martin is the epitome of what we strive to be: Outstanding husband and father, a great citizen of Dedham and our Commonwealth and someone whose life made the world a better place,” said state Senator Michael Rush, who worked with Martin in Dedham and beyond.
“My thoughts and condolences are with Gemma and their children on the loss of their dedicated husband and father,” said state Rep. Paul McMurtry of Dedham. “We are all grateful for the short time we had to share in David's unique wit, wisdom and intellect. He will truly be missed.”
“David was a treasured member of our community,” said Jim MacDonald, longtime member of Dedham’s Board of Selectmen. “He chaired our Finance Committee through several years of controversial municipal issues and budgets and did so with logic and understanding. He had no agenda, except to act in the best interests of the town and do good for others. His level head and even voice set an example that we could disagree without ever being disagreeable. I don’t know one person in town who didn’t like and respect him.”
In 1998, he was diagnosed with Pseudomyxoma peritonei, a rare form of cancer impacting the abdomen. He battled the disease, always with Gemma and their daughters at his side, with the same quiet grace and humor he lived his life.
David Martin is pre-deceased by his parents, Dick and Ellen Martin. He was the brother of Chris Martin and his wife, Kathy Davis and his niece, Elle, of Ridgway, Colorado and nephew of Barbara and Tony Bilodeau and Marian Nelson of New Hampshire as well as his cousins Donna, Marcia and Andrea, his nephews Billy, Danny, Josh, Ben and his niece, Meaghan.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Martin Family Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o Dedham Institution for Savings, 55 Elm Street, Dedham, MA 02026.
A Celebration of Life will be held Tuesday, June 28, 2016 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Endicott Estate, 656 East Street in Dedham. All are welcome to join his family and friends in raising a glass to David’s family, work and memory.
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