Thomas C. Wojtkowski Sr.

1926 - 2023

Thomas Casmere Wojtkowski, Sr., 96, passed away peacefully at his home on August 1, 2023, after a lifetime of service to others. Born on September 18, 1926, in Pittsfield to Frank and Anna Juchacki (Yukaski) Wojtkowski, both Polish immigrants, Tom (as everyone knew him) was the sixth of 13 children. He attended Pittsfield public schools and was a 1944 graduate of Pittsfield High School where he played violin in the school orchestra and drew illustrations for the student literary publication, The Student's Pen. He enlisted in the Navy and served from 1944 to 1946 in the Pacific theater aboard a minesweeper, the USS Barbican, where he was a pharmacist's mate.

Taking advantage of the GI Bill, Tom earned an AA Degree in 1949 from Champlain College in Plattsburgh, NY, and then a BS in Education in 1952 from George Washington University in Washington, DC. While at GW, he played violin in the university orchestra and was editor of the Hatchet, the university newspaper, where he was news editor covering Congress and diplomatic and international events.

From 1952 to 1953, Tom taught sixth grade at Hibbard Elementary School, reportedly the first male elementary school teacher in Pittsfield. At the same time, he took graduate courses in education at North Adams State College and Sienna College.

In 1953, Tom was elected to the first of nine terms in the MA House of Representatives. While serving in the House, Tom attended law school at night and earned an LLB Degree from New England Law School in 1959. From 1960 to 2010, he practiced law in Pittsfield, handling a very broad range of issues, from criminal to real estate, taxation, immigration, corporate and probate issues. Many of Tom's clients were poor, and Tom often took payment in kind, rather than in cash; sometimes he took no payment at all. From 1959 through the 1980s he took over 30 graduate courses in from Suffolk Law School, Harvard University, and Boston University, as well as law courses from the Massachusetts Trial Lawyers Association and the Massachusetts Law Practice Institute.

As a freshman legislator, Tom was already thinking about how to improve access to higher education for working-class people, both financially and geographically. Tom was Vice Chairman of a commission that worked for two years, and which in 1956 advocated for junior, or community, colleges as a way of "bringing higher education to the people." In 1958, Tom helped draft the legislation and was the prime legislative mover in passing the Act that created the Massachusetts Board of Regional Community Colleges. Because of Tom's hard work, in 1960 Berkshire Community College (BCC) in Pittsfield became the first Community College in MA. Initially the College was housed in the former Pittsfield High School on the Common. Tom and his brother-in-law, then Sen. Andrea Nuciforo, Sr., successfully obtained appropriations to build a new campus on outer West Street, which opened in 1970. In later years, Tom would joke that he established the community college system so that his wife would have somewhere to work, and his kids would have somewhere to go to school.

Tom served on many legislative committees. On Conservation and Natural Resources, he led the fight for clean air and water preservation, conservation, and protection of open space and park land from incursion by developers and municipalities. On Judiciary, Tom worked to update the state's antiquated and unfair eminent domain laws and helped enact a conflict-of-interest law for public officials. He also helped enact the MA Public Defender Law and much consumer-oriented legislation.

On Education, Tom consistently sponsored and fought for legislation to improve teachers' salaries, strengthen teachers' rights, and improve the quality of education in Massachusetts. In 1962, Tom was vice chairman of a special commission to improve and extend educational facilities in MA, whose report served as the basis for landmark legislation that reorganized the entire educational structure in Massachusetts from preschool through the graduate programs at the University of Massachusetts. On the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, Tom's opinion was constantly sought on any proposed legislation requiring detailed spending projections, impact of federal laws and regulations, and judgments as to appropriate departmental responsibility.

In 1960, Tom worked on John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign, and when Kennedy won the election, Tom, as one of the 16 members of the MA delegation to the Electoral College, proudly cast his vote for Kennedy.

In 1965, he helped draft, and he carried on the floor of the House, the nation's first state racial imbalance law, defending this milestone legislation during two days of rigorous debate and amendments. Tom had joined the NAACP in 1956, and in March, 1960, he helped man the picket line in front of the North Street Woolworth's as part of a national protest against segregated lunch counters.

Throughout his career, Tom drafted a great deal of the language of laws passed by the state legislature. In 1972, he accepted an offer to serve as the counsel to the House Ways and Means Committee and so chose not to run for a tenth 2-year term. He remained in this role until he became Assistant Counsel to the entire House, serving from 1985 to 1994, when he retired.

Never one to rest, Tom became a government affairs counsel with Boston-based Reilly Associates. There, he used his legislative and legal expertise to assist the firm in representing clients by researching, analyzing, and drafting proposed legislation and making amendments to existing or proposed laws.

Tom delighted in his Polish heritage. From 1957 on, he was a member of the Polish National Alliance and served as president of the local Lodge Council. He was a delegate to several PNA national conventions. From 1984 to 2013, Tom was program director and announcer on WBRK's Polish-American Show on Sunday mornings, one of the longest running ethnic radio shows in America. He read the news, made announcements, and chatted in both English and Polish as well as playing Polish music.

Tom loved classical music, particularly opera on WAMC, with which he would regale his family and neighbors on Saturday afternoons.

Tom's lively curiosity led him to take many trips abroad: to Poland, Italy, England, China, and elsewhere. That curiosity reflected the youthful spirit that can be seen in his photo - he might be elderly on the outside, but inside he was still a young man eager to take on and take in the world around him.

An avid gardener for over 40 years, Tom provided bounty from his vegetable beds that was a source of great delight to his friends and family. He also was a wonderful steward of his beloved 15 acres of woodland off Ridge Avenue; well into his 90s, he kept the trails open and the weeds and vines at bay.

Tom was quick to volunteer wherever he was needed. He offered help to others at the Senior Center - most of them his junior by many years. He drove donated food to the Christian Center. He did yard work at Berkshire Music School. Tom was generous to a fault. Having grown up during the Depression, he knew what it was to be poor and what obstacles that put in people's paths. His hope was always to lift people up.

Tom's wife of 52 years, former BCC professor and Pittsfield mayor, Anne Everest Wojtkowski, passed away in 2014. Tom was predeceased by his brothers Frank, Stanley, and Zigmund, and by his sisters Irene (Batesy) Nuciforo, Sophie Borkowski, Anne Talis, and Wanda Donahue. Tom is survived by his son, Thomas, Jr., and his wife Cathy (daughter Lauren and husband Drew), and by his daughter, Marcella W. Bradway, and her husband Jeff (sons Benjamin and Jonathan), by his brothers Edwin, George, and Conrad, his sisters, Theresa and Stephanie (Mona), and by many, many nieces and nephews.

Tom's family would like to thank the wonderful people at Hospice and at Molari who made his last month's very comfortable, particular Amy, Beth, Jill, Pam, and Tricia.

FUNERAL NOTICE: Funeral services will be held on Saturday, August 5, 2023 with a Liturgy of Christian Burial at 9:00 A.M. at Saint Joseph's Church, celebrated by Rev. Msgr. Michael A. Shershanovich, Pastor. Burial will follow at Saint Joseph's Cemetery. Calling hours will take place, Friday, August 4, 2023 from 4:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. at DERY FUNERAL HOME, 54 Bradford St., Pittsfield, Ma.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Thomas C. & Anne Everest Wojtkowski Scholarship at Berkshire Community College.