By his son, Timothy Horrigan
On October 12, 2011, I honored my late father, James O. Horrigan, on the floor of the New Hampshire House, just a few days after he died on September 25, 2011. In the 1970s, he represented the same three towns I currently represent, i.e., Durham, Lee & Madbury. Here are my words, as transcribed by the House Clerk's office:
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MOTION TO PRINT REMARKS Rep. Jennifer Coffey moved that the remarks made by Rep. Horrigan be placed in the Permanent Journal. Adopted.
REMARKS Rep. Horrigan: Thank you, Mister Speaker. My father, James Horrigan died on Sunday, September 25th. He was known to be a man of few but well chosen words so I will try to emulate him as best I can. He served the same district I represent now which is Durham, Lee and Madbury. He was elected in 1974 and served until 1978. Many of the things that he worked on back then are still issues today. He was especially interested in the environment, alternative energy, tax policy and equal rights for all. The speaker back then was George Roberts who is still a lobbyist and many of you probably know very well. My father followed in the footsteps of our next-door neighbor on Bennett Road in Durham, Leon Crouch. When Rep. Crouch passed away, my father wanted to pay tribute to him. Speaker Roberts said, "If we had speeches every time one of those old fossils dies, we would never get anything else done." I am glad to say that we did get a lot of business done today. Like many of us, including myself, my father moved here from somewhere else. We came here from the Chicago area. In January 1966, Jim Horrigan was an ambitious young Navy veteran and University of Chicago Ph.D. Student. He was just 35 years old. His UNH recruiting trip didn't go very smoothly. He arrived during one of those messy mid-winter ice storms. The dean of the business school drove his car into a snow bank on Route 108 on the way up from Logan and that dean was fired later that semester, but my father knew instantly that New Hampshire would be his home and our family's home. He immediately saw that this was a community dedicated to the ideals of freedom and social justice which he had always been fighting for and he quickly became a big part of our state. His service in this House was just one of many positions he held over the years. Even in the last month of his life, he served on the Portsmouth Conservation Commission. In fact, he wrote out his own resignation letter by hand and I typed it up and walked it over to the Portsmouth City Hall. He taught at the University of New Hampshire from 1966 to 1996 and he was extremely dedicated to that institution. He passed up many opportunities to go elsewhere. One of the secrets that came out after my father died was that he turned down a chance to teach at the Stanford Business School. The Whittemore School is a great institution and UNH a great institution, but certainly Stanford is even more prestigious, but UNH was his home and that's where he wanted to stay. He was the humblest man I ever knew and he was also the greatest and I am certainly proud to be his son and to follow in his footsteps representing Durham, Lee and Madbury, the whole State of New Hampshire and the House. I thank you all for your attention on what was a rather long day of legislative work. Thank you. |
The remarks I prepared in advance were as follows:
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Prepared Remarks by Rep. Timothy Horrigan; October 12, 2011
My father, James Horrigan, served the same district I represent now: Durham, Lee & Madbury. He was elected in 1974 and served until 1978. Many things are the same today as back then: the issues he worked on back in the 1970s— the environment, alternative energy, tax policy and equal rights for all— are just as important now.
George Roberts has been one of the fixtures at the State House both in my father's day and my day. He is now a lobbyist, but he was the Speaker when my father was a member of a vastly outnumbered Democratic minority.
My father followed in the footsteps of our next door neighbor on Bennett Road in Durham, Leon Crouch. When Rep. Crouch passed, my father wanted to pay tribute to him. Speaker Roberts said, "if we had speeches every time one of those old fossils dies, we would never get anything else done." (I am glad to say that we did get some things done today.)
Like many of us in this House, myself included, my father moved here from somewhere else: we came here from the Chicago area. In January 1966, Jim Horrigan was an ambitious young Navy veteran and University of Chicago Ph.D. Student. He was just 35 years old. His UNH recruiting trip didn't go very smoothly: he arrived during one of those messy mid-winter ice storms, the dean of the business school drove his car into a snowbank on Route 108 on the way up from Logan, and that dean was fired later that semester. But my father knew instantly that New Hampshire would be his home, and our family's home. He immediately saw that this was a community dedicated to the ideals of freedom and social justice which he had always been fighting for, and he quickly became a big part of our state. His service in this House was just one of many positions he held over the years: even in the last month of his life, he served on the Portsmouth Conservation Commission.
He was the humblest man I ever knew, but he was also the greatest, and I am proud to be his son. |
Dad's Obit:
Portsmouth, NH – James Owen Horrigan, 80, of Portsmouth, died Sunday, September 25, 2011.
Jim was born in Joliet, IL on December 27, 1930. the son of the
late Owen P. and Eleanor M. (Hurley) Horrigan, and brother of the
late Katherine Horrigan.
Jim earned a B.S.C. degree from Notre Dame in 1952. From the University of Chicago, he received an MBA in 1958 and PhD in Business in 1967. He served in the United States Navy during the Korean War.
Jim led a distinguished career as a professor of Accounting and Finance. He taught at Notre Dame from to 1956 to 1966, and then at the University of New Hampshire for thirty years until his retirement in 1996. Jim was honored to serve visiting professor positions at the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in 1971, the University of Kent in Canterbury, England in 1972, Stanford University in 1982, and Northeastern University in 1987. He published numerous articles beginning with his dissertation "An Evaluation of Financial Ratio Analysis" in 1967, and ending with a historical perspective of Accounting for the Luca Pacioli Quincentennial Celebration in Sanselpolcro, Italy in 1994.
As a long-time resident of the town of Durham, Jim was a dedicated volunteer. He was a State Representative for Durham, Lee and Madbury from 1975 to 1978 (sponsoring bills on environmental problems and alternate energy sources) and Chairman of the Durham Democrats from 1978 to 1984. After moving to Portsmouth in 1986, he was active in the City Committee, Portsmouth Democrats, Portsmouth Zoning Board of Adjustment and most recently, the Portsmouth Conservation Commission. He was also on the Restoration Advisory Board for the Kittery Naval Shipyard from 2001 to 2008.
James married his wife, Mary Clifton (Griswold) Horrigan on November 25, 1955 (Friday after Thanksgiving). They met when Clif Griswold, while studying for her final exams at Wellesley College in the spring of 1954, accepted a blind date with a young Naval Officer named Jim Horrigan only after learning that he wanted to become a college professor.
Besides his wife, survivors include his children, Timothy Owen Horrigan of Durham, Mary Eleanor (Horrigan) Spyropoulos and her husband Peter of Needham, MA, and Katherine Griswold Horrigan of Durham; grandchildren, Alexander and Christopher Spyropoulos of Needham, MA; siblings, Eleanore M. (Horrigan) Adams of Havertown, PA and John Hurley Horrigan of Joliet, IL; numerous nieces, grandnieces, nephews, and grandnephews.
Services: Visiting hours will be held from 5:30-8:00PM on Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at the J. Verne Wood Funeral Home – Buckminster Chapel, 84 Broad Street, Portsmouth, NH. Funeral services will be held at 10:00AM on Thursday, September 29, 2011 at the South Church - The Unitarian Universalist Church of Portsmouth, 292 State Street, Portsmouth. Friends are invited. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the South Church - The Unitarian Universalist Church of Portsmouth, Sustainability/Conservation Efforts, Green Sanctuary Committee, 292 State St., Portsmouth, NH 03801. Please visit: www.jvwoodfuneralhome.com to sign the online guest book, to send a private condolence, and/or a sympathy card.
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