Michael H. McGovern

Michael Harry McGovern

Renaissance man, world traveler, graduate of SUNY Albany, U Mass Amherst and Princeton, lover of French mystery novels, Star Trek, physics and Indian food. He will be missed terribly by all who love him. Family will receive friends on Friday, March 20th, 5 PM to 8 PM at Chas. Peter Nagel Funeral Directors, 352 E. 87th St., NYC. Memorial Mass at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, Saturday, March 21st at 10 AM.

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Eulogy given by Amy Godwin, Mike's sister

I wasn't sure where to start when I asked to give Mike's Eulogy. I'm obviously very sad at his passing and wasn't sure what to say.

After lots of thought, and so many possible topics ranging from Star Trek to Dungeons and Dragons, I decided to focus on 3 things:
his sense of fun and humor
his compassionate nature and his family
that he was a scholar and traveller

Michael had a wonderful sense of humor and fun, and often liked to torture me, his younger sister with it. Some of my friends in the church today probably remember the stories of the mummy that was hanged over our bunk beds or the Mr. Met doll that was possessed. Or, the time when he tape recorded a good ten minutes of silence followed by a small voice saying "help me, help me" and left the recording in my dresser at bed time. I embarrassed myself, and many others on multiple occassions, as he had an uncanny ability to do an impression of Jack Nicholson in the Shining which always made me scream. Even as an adult on the way to my wedding! To say Mike had a quick wit would be an understatement - he had a great sense of fun and loved to banter. He always loved to chat and laugh and I will miss that.

In addition to Michael's wonderful sense of humor, he also had a deep sense of compassion. During the last few weeks I have been struck by how many lives Michael touched in his 49 years; almost all of the stories I hear are of how Mike helped someone at school or in life as a friend. He was a good son to my mom and dad, a good uncle to my children and a great older brother. He also leaves behind a beautiful daughter Tara with whom he was completely enamoured. His capacity to love her and play with her whenever he could always amazed me - he loved to be completely dedicated to entertaining her at all costs. I will miss watching the joy in both of them as they played together.

Lest you think my brother was all fun all the time, let me remind you all of how much of a scholar he was. Mike was proud to graduate with an BS in Physics from SUNY Albany; an MS in Physics from U MASS Amherst and a Masters in International Relations from Princeton University. Mike spoke beautiful French, went to school in Dijon, lived in Paris and was an avid traveller. Mike was passionate about seeing the world and managed to visit France, Spain, England, Ireland, Scotland, Belgium, all over the United States, and of course India in his travels. My husband referred to my brother the other day as a Renaissance Man. He was highly educated in Math and Physics, spoke fluent French, was a wonderful writer who had published works and an accomplished world traveller. Very few of us could attach as many titles to our lives.

I will forever see my big brother coming to rescue me after I had I fallen backwards off a wall and landed a good 10 feet below. I can see him clearly jumping over the wall and scooping me up in his arms to carry me to safety. That is the big brother I will miss everyday - except maybe for the Shining thing as that still scares me.

Thank you.


************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Michael H. McGovern
December 30, 1965 – February 28, 2015

Mike was born a New Yorker, but saw himself as a citizen of the world. As a young boy growing up in Manhattan, he loved exploring the maze of backyards behind his building and beyond with his friends. As he got older, the scope of his explorations expanded to include other neighborhoods and ultimately Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village where he and a good friend joined the outdoor chess competitions. Mike once told his family that when competing he and his friend had learned to hold up to ten advance chess moves in their heads, a skill honed no doubt in the quarter-a-game contests they used to play on the steps of Mike's building. Later, whether it was arranging to spend summers working in Paris or the next move on his career path, Mike always knew where he was going. And the going was what he enjoyed the most.

He loved to travel. His trips away from home began early with preteen and early teen summers spent in Vermont with the family of a close friend. During those long, leisurely summers a deep love of nature and the environment took root in this city kid bred amid the noise, hustle and diversity of Manhattan. Later, that love was reinforced by two-week camping trips with his father and sister through upstate New York, New England and eastern Canada. Those experiences, which he often talked about, later led him to take a six-month break from university studies to work as a Park Ranger, in New York City, of all places. As an Urban Park Ranger, Mike gave educational public talks and school presentations about nature, the environment, and park history; performed park nature surveys; and patrolled park grounds. He had already taken a three-month driving trip across country with a college friend after graduation, spent a summer studying in France, and visited England, Scotland, and Ireland. One interesting meeting that took place during his trip through Ireland, and well remembered by a relative in County Sligo, was his arrival on that gentleman's doorstep after biking ten miles over the low hills in the rain. Mike was dressed in his Mets cap and a garbage bag (with holes poked through for his arms and head).

As the years went on his travels continued with more summers in France, another driving trip through the western states with his father that included visits to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons, white-water rafting, horseback riding and day-long hikes on western trails. But ultimately the highlight of all his travels were the times he spent in India. He loved the Indian people and was fascinated with their customs, gentle ways, and ancient history. And the linguist in Mike loved the challenge of learning to understand and speak Hindi. This skill was to come in handy later.

Mike's earliest travels started with a short walk from home to kindergarten and elementary school at P. S. 158. Later, a five- or six-block walk took him to St. Ignatius Loyola High School where his life-long love for the French language was born. But it wasn't until he entered SUNY Albany that the high road of academic scholarship opened up for Mike. Deciding on a career as a scientist, he earned a BS in Physics in 1987. For his MS in Physics, he moved on to the University of Massachusetts, where, while serving as a Teaching Assistant in his field, he pursued intensive French studies as well. He completed his MS at UMass in 1991, and Diplôme de Français in French Studies at Université de Bourgogne in Dijon, France that summer.

As Mike's fluency in French increased along with a growing fascination with the wider world, his interests moved away from a physics career towards international affairs. In 1992, he entered the Master in Public Affairs (MPA) program at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University. While there he received the U.S. government-funded French Foreign Language Area Scholarship (FLAS) and studied French language, literature, history, and the French nuclear program. That summer, he was delighted to return to France to work at the American Embassy in Paris in the Science & Technology office as a Foreign Service Intern, tracking developments in the French nuclear energy program and generating reports for the State Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The following summer he was happy to again be back in Paris, this time at Credit Lyonnais, providing research and reporting support, entirely in French, to the bank's research and documentation bureau.

Mike had become a serious, dedicated student, but serious wasn't the word family and friends would choose to describe him. Mike was witty with a keen memory for jokes. At family gatherings his sense of humor and love of fun often dominated the evening. He was second only to his Aunt Mary in his love of board games, but Mike was the one who'd keep things moving with a friendly taunt for anyone who was too slow or deliberate in making a move.

He loved his sister Amy and stayed close to her over the years, but he was a tireless tease and a relentless mimic. One of his preteen pranks his sister remembers well was lowering his Mr. Met doll with a noose around its neck from the top bunk of their bunkbeds and gently tapping her with it till she woke up. As a teenager, his worst trick in her mind was creeping up beside her while she and a friend, or even one of her parents, were walking down the street. She'd turn and he'd rise up from a crouch mimicking the crazed grin of Jack Nicholson in The Shining yelling, "Heeere's Johnny!" Apparently it was a pretty credible performance because she invariably screamed. Sometimes when he was being taken to task by his mother or father for some infraction or other, his skill at mimicking every gesture and expression got him off the hook. Or, it backfired and got him into more trouble.

At SUNY Albany, as budding scientists, Mike and several of his fellow physics majors were avid "Trekkies" and could play out entire scenes from Star Trek word-for-word. A former child actor with fond memories of working with Fred Astaire in the TV animation "The Easter Bunny Comes to Town," Mike loved matching his Captain Kirk to a good friend's Mr. Spock. He enjoyed listening to rock and roll, but was known among his friends as an early and enthusiastic lover of country and western music, of which he remained a lifelong fan. Baseball (specifically the Mets) was the only sport he followed closely. As a young boy, he was a devoted but often disappointed Mets fan. He attended many Met games with his father, always wearing his Mets cap and carrying his mitt, which finally came in handy when a foul ball came right at him and he caught it.

Early on, Mike read a lot of science fiction and loved J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. As he got older, his tastes moved on to French literature and French mystery novels, particularly the Simenon stories featuring Maigret. He was an equal lover of both comedy and crime drama on TV. But when it came to comedy, he was especially partial to the oldies, such as Sanford & Son, MASH, Get Smart, and PBS's AreYou Being Served. He liked Law & Order, NCIS, and Person of Interest, but seemed to prefer the older detective stories on PBS, like Midsomer Murders and George Gently.

After receiving his MPA from Princeton in 1994, Mike began working in the non-profit non-government (NGO) sector of the economy where he was able to apply both his analytical and writing skills and his understanding of the historical, institutional, and cultural contexts of domestic and international policy making. At the Century Foundation in New York, Mike managed or edited book and monograph projects on international and science policy issues. In late 1995 he moved to Washington, D.C. to work for Resources for the Future (RFF) where he conducted research and co-authored and edited environmental policy reports, articles, newsletters, and book chapters on nuclear cleanup and the environment.

In 1998, Mike decided to stay on in the Washington area. That year, he attended a party in D.C. with friends and later told of seeing a beautiful woman across the room. That woman, Jaya Tiwari, was to become his future wife. When asked about that first meeting, Jaya said, "I remember it like it was yesterday. In the fashion of young D.C. professionals, we asked each other about our work. I mentioned to Mike that I was interning at the Center for Defense Information and working on compiling a research report on accidents around nuclear weapons production and storage sites. His face lit up and his eyes got bright and he said: 'You know, that has been my research area. I wrote a big report on it. It's called Long-term Stewardship and the Nuclear Weapons Complex.'  Then came what we both joked about as his pick-up line: 'Do you want to read my Long-term Stewardship report? I can send a copy to your office tomorrow.' As I was getting ready to leave he offered to walk me home, which I declined, since I was going to walk back with other female interns. In a last ditch attempt to leave a lasting impression on me, Mike leaned over and in a somewhat serious voice said, 'I know many Hindi curse words.' and we both burst out laughing." Their traditional wedding took place in Bhaisawli, India, in 2003.

Wherever he lived, Mike loved to take long walks. Whether Manhattan, Washington, or Paris - walking and taking in the spectacle of life along urban streets was one of his great pleasures. That was especially true when he strolled the streets of cities and villages in India. Yet Mike never lost his love of nature and the outdoors. When his father or an old friend came to visit, a hike on one of the trails in the Shenandoah Valley was usually on the agenda, as was a walk up through Rock Creek Park to Georgetown for lunch or dinner.

In 1999, after serving as a senior analyst for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Center for Verification Research and Arms Control Technology, Mike's career path took a new turn when he shifted his extensive skills from non-profit, NGO work to join Science Application International Corporation (SAIC), a government contractor. In ten years as Senior Analyst/Scientist, he co-authored and contributed to technical reports, proposals, briefings, and funding requests submitted to U.S. Government agencies. He devoted his research, writing, editing, and analysis skills to helping generate new opportunities in homeland security and critical infrastructure domains.

After leaving SAIC, Mike worked for other government contractors, but had begun considering other career options. The day before he passed away, Mike had a tenant ready to rent his house, and he himself was packed up and ready to leave. For someone who always knew where he was going, Mike obviously had a plan in mind, a plan that included Vermont, the place where his daughter, Tara, whom he deeply loved, had recently moved. He said he wanted to take her fishing and show her where he had spent many summers as a boy. And where he now could explore new options for work. Sadly, it was a plan he didn't live to carry out.

But Mike will live on in the hearts of family and friends who loved his kindness, his basic human goodness, his humor, and his open, generous ways, Mike was a beloved son, brother, husband, father, and uncle, and we will miss him dearly.

Michael is survived by his daughter Tara Amy McGovern; mother, Harriet Molese; father, Charles J. McGovern; sister Amy Godwin (Anthony), nephew Alexander Godwin, and niece Emma Godwin.

Mass Readings Job 19:1, 23-27a; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57
Gospel John 11:17-27


MICHAEL McGOVERN: SELECTED PUBLICATIONS (AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET)

"Transparent Governance: The Role of Non-governmental Organizations and the Internet," with Thomas Jandl (Bellona USA) and Tom Beierle (Resources for the Future), The Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems, UNESCO
"Nuclear Energy Impacts on Health," with Jaya Tiwari (Old Dominion University), The Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems, UNESCO
"Projects for Securing Nuclear Waste," with Thomas Jandl, The Arctic Nuclear Challenge, Bellona
"The Challenge Ahead: Long-Term Stewardship Will Be Needed At The Nuclear Weapons Complex To Protect Health And The Environment," with Kate Probst (Resources for the Future), Forum for Applied Research and Applied Public Policy
Long-Term Stewardship and the Nuclear Weapons Complex: The Challenge Ahead, with Kate Probst, RFF Report
"E-Part: The Future of Public Involvement?," with Tom Beierle, Center for Risk Management Newsletter
"Social Values," Chapter 8 of Pollution Control in the United States: Evaluating the System, RFF Book, Davies and Mazurek, eds.
"Cleaning Up the Nuclear Weapons Complex: A Difficult Challenge," with Kate Probst, Resources

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************