Page 20 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, December 31, 2021 MALDEN: TODAY | FROM PAGE 6 of school when I say that Frank was not a perfect human being. Who is? I am going to miss that huge personality and the Frankie Russell swagger – the biting wit in those emails letting me know when I got it wrong – and the ones I really looked forward to, the times I got it right. Frankie was a good guy, by no means faultless. But then again none of us are. No matter, death leaves a huge hole regardless. I know you “can’t put your arms around a memory,” so from the bottom of my heart, Frankie, I will miss you. Speaking of Marty Gately, he was one of the first people I reached out to when I heard the news. Marty and Frank were friends. They shared the good, the bad and the ugly in life together as friends always do. Marty is a guy I have always respected, and I really appreciated him taking some time to speak Frank Russell with me: “Frank was, fi rst and foremost, a very intelligent man (1985 Malden High School grad, BA in history from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Juris Doctorate from Suff olk University Law School). He is a past president of the Malden Historical Society, served as Assistant City Solicitor for both Somerville and Malden, led his own law practice for 19 years, held a leadership position on the Mayor’s Housing Task Force, was on the Board of Directors for both the Monsignor Neagle Apartments and Malden Chamber of Commerce, and he was a lector at Immaculate Conception Parish. Like I said, a very intelligent man. “Frank and I had a lot of good times together, including working out at the legendary Malden YMCA Men’s Health Club when the Health Club at the old Y was ground zero in Malden for both working out and perfecting the ‘art of the deal.’ Frank was very active in local politics. He was elected to the Malden School Committee and worked on many local campaigns including mine when I fi rst ran for offi ce. He was even able to get the true superstar of the family, his wonderful mother Denise, to host my fi rst campaign coff ee party. He had an unbelievable amount of knowledge and passion for politics and for the history of the city he loved so much, Malden. I am positive that he could have written his magnum opus, the critically acclaimed ‘An Early History of Malden’ solely from memory. Without the help of crib notes for sure. “I will always remember Frank as a core member of what we called the ‘Round Table.’ The Round Table was a joking reference to the Algonquin Round Table of the 1920’s led by writer Dorothy Parker. In the early 1990’s, every Friday, myself, Frank, Sean Lucey, and Keith Swerdlick (who at the time was REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS BUYER1 LYTES, GERALD M MAJUMDER, BOSUDEB HE, JUCONG IQBAL, TABISH DUTRA-XAVIER, DEBORA XU, XIAOLI XAVIER, JOELISSON F BUYER2 SELLER1 SIMARD, KEVIN R DASILVA, FABIANO F CHIN, BENJAMIN RAMIREZ, LUIS A T W 2 RT SELLER2 SIMARD, KIMBERLY SHEA VIRGINIA H EST SHEA, JOHN M an aide to Mayor Ed Lucey) and a revolving cast of local characters would meet for the lunch buffet at Anthony’s on Canal Street. The tables were round, which was important to Frank, who was always a stickler for detail. The conversation was always lively. Frank would always show up impeccably dressed. Which is something that was never once said about the rest of us. In the summertime, he would wear his trademark seersucker suit. Winter, spring, summer, or fall he would keep us entertained with his biting wit and that Frankie Russell charisma. The future stretched out in front of each one of us but fi rst Friday afternoons at the Round Table. Frank embraced that challenge (and life in general) with a deep passion. The good, the bad, and the ugly. His love for life, his love for and knowledge of Malden and its history, and his friendship will be sorely missed.” Postscript: If you do not have Frank Russell’s book “An Early History of Malden” (still available online, by the way) then as card-carrying Maldonians, you should. Frank’s love aff air with Malden is evident within the pages of this book. I picked it up when it fi rst hit the “local bookstore” and could not put it down. It literally had to be pried from my gnarly hands by my grandson Christian. In the book Frankie goes waaay back! From Michael “Mr. Sunshine” Wigglesworth’s Colonial era “best seller” “Day of Doom” right up to the Woman’s Suff rage Movement and Malden’s greatest citizen, Elisha Converse (Elisha being the Malden equivalent of Hans Sprungfeld, aka Jebediah Obadiah Zachariah Jedediah Springfi eld, the purported fictional founder of the town of Springfi eld on “The Simpsons”). An amazing amount of detail went into this book. Frank outdid himself with his farewell tome. Thank you for that, Frank. Copyrighted material previously published in Banker & Tradesman/The Commercial Record, a weekly trade newspaper. It is reprinted with permission from the publisher, The Warren Group. For a searchable database of real estate transactions and property information visit: www.thewarrengroup.com. ADDRESS 161 WEST ST FERRIERA, JULIANA A 319 LYNN ST CHIN, MON 9-11 ESTEY ST RAMIREZ, MAYVORLY 19-21 RICHARDSON ST BERGART, JEFFREY G 101 WAITE ST #C2 46-B WENTWORTH ST CITY MALDEN MALDEN MALDEN MALDEN MALDEN MALDEN DATE 03.12.2021 03.12.2021 02.12.2021 01.12.2021 01.12.2021 29.11.2021 PRICE $775 000,00 $600 000,00 $780 000,00 $825 000,00 $300 000,00 $610 000,00
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