MICHAEL J. DENNEEN

1963 - 2018

DENNEEN, Michael J. A guiding light in Boston's music community for over thirty years, died July 10, 2018, from cancer. He passed away at his home, surrounded by his family and good friends.

Mike was born in Boston, MA, on August 27, 1963. Raised in Quincy, he graduated from Milton Academy and Yale University, before returning to Boston to co-found Q Division Recording Studios with high school friend Jon Lupfer in 1986.

Q Division (and later Q Division Records) became home to a generation of Boston bands that included 'Til Tuesday, Morphine, Pixies, The Cavedogs, The Gravel Pit and many more. Mike produced and recorded hit records for a wide range of bands and artists, including Fountains of Wayne, Aimee Mann, The Click Five, and Howie Day. Records like Gigolo Aunts' "Flipping Out", Letters to Cleo's "Aurora Gory Alice", and Jen Trynin's "Cockamamie" helped shape Boston's sound of the mid-90's, and establish Mike's reputation for top notch engineering and production. Mike's musical talent, fierce intelligence and laid back style made him a sought-after mentor to a generation of Boston engineers and musicians, both at Q Division and The Berklee School of Music where he began teaching in 2011 in their Music Engineering and Production Program.

Mike loved all the arts (except for, as he would freely admit: "Dance. I never got dance...") and along with his wife Jen, local bookseller Tim Huggins, and artist manager Michael Creamer, founded the authors-and-songwriters series Earfull, currently at the Mosesian Center for the Arts and Branch Line restaurant in Watertown, MA. The MCA is an arts and theater collective in which Mike was deeply involved for many years and where he loved his most recent role as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Mike's working relationship with Jen Trynin grew into a personal one, and they married in 2000 before having their wonderful daughter, Gracie, who currently attends Mike's beloved Milton Academy. This fall, Mike and Jen would have celebrated their 28th year together. In Jen's words: "Mike was a unique and original thinker, ?a statistic of one' for whom the rules never seemed to apply. An astute, liberal-minded, politically savvy ?Yalie' one second, and a beer swigging, Red Sox-loving and cap wearing sports fan the next. Mike was a gentleman and a romantic, but could also be the ultimate masshole, screaming across the highway at a bad driver, letting him know exactly where he could stick it. And finally, there was Mike the teacher, who despite always ?enjoying being right' was never one for the spotlight. He was more of a guy for an inside job, insinuating himself into the group, the cause, the party, and before you knew it, he was running the show, the business, or was suddenly president of the board. Mike did indeed bend the world to his whim, because when Mike was around, the world became Mike's world."

He leaves behind his wife Jennifer Trynin and daughter, Grace Trynin Denneen, of Watertown, MA; his parents, William and Mary Denneen of Quincy, MA; brother Mark Denneen and husband Dr. Anthony Coyle of Boston, MA; brother Bill Denneen and wife Suzanne of Oberlin, OH; brother Jeff Denneen and wife Anne of Alpharetta, GA; and nephews and nieces Henry, Maeve and Ruby Denneen of Oberlin, OH; and Darcy, Rachel and Liam Denneen of Alpharetta, GA. He is also survived by his mother-in-law, Nancy Robins and her husband, Dr. Bernard Robins of Lebanon, NJ; his step-mother-in-law Judy Sutton Trynin (wife of the late Nick Trynin) of Shelter Island, NY; brother-in-law Tom Trynin and wife Robin, and their daughter, niece Sadie Trynin, of Westfield, NJ.

For those who knew and loved Mike, a memorial celebration will be held on Saturday, August 4, at 4:00 p.m, at the Mosesian Center for the Arts in Watertown, MA.

Donations in Mike's memory can be made to the Michael J. Denneen ?81 Endowed Scholarship Fund at Milton Academy (170 Centre Street, Milton, MA 02186); or to the Michael J. Denneen Legacy Fund at Mosesian Center for the Arts (321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA 02472).