Martin Reilly Obituary – Death: Springfield Ma Former State Senator, Martin Reilly Dies At 68, Cause of Death
Martin Reilly Obituary News: Former state senator for the Hampden District, Martin Reilly, age 68, passed away. Two well-known Springfield politicians, Rudolph J. Chmura and a state legislator for seven terms, just passed away.
Reilly, a Wilbraham resident, was elected to the Massachusetts Senate in 1981 at the age of 24, making him the state’s youngest senator in history. He had defeated the incumbent senator, Stanley J. Zarod, in the election for the job.
Former Springfield mayor Michael Albano, who was at the time a member of the city’s school committee, recalls working with Reilly on a bill that would have made all of the commonwealth’s schools drug-free zones.
Paul Caron served in the House while Reilly was in the Senate. He concurred that Albano’s description of the late senator was correct. Reilly held tenure in the Senate for four consecutive terms before leaving in 1989, when Republican Brian Lees took over. After moving to Cape Cod, Reilly began a career as a lobbyist.
Martin died at the Cape Cod Hospital on Friday. He was 68 years old. Springfield-native Chmura grew up assisting in the bakery and farm his family owned before finally taking over ownership of both.
In the Korean War, he had participated. Beginning in 1969, Chmura was elected to serve in the Massachusetts House of Representatives for seven consecutive terms.
Martin was the House head of the Post Audit and Oversight Committee from 1979 to 1981. Chmura resigned from the legislature in 1981, and in 1982, he was selected to serve as the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke’s assistant superintendent.
Up until 1990, when he was selected to be the facility’s superintendent, he held this position. He served in that capacity up until his retirement in 1997. Chmura later settled in Nashua, New Hampshire, and died there on June 30. He was 91 years old.
After the passing of a former state senator for the Hampden District and a state representative for seven terms, both of whom were well-known Springfield officials before their deaths, condolences have been expressed to the city of Springfield.