| Tom Birmingham | |
|---|---|
| Tom Birmingham at a roundtable organized by the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service at Suffolk University on 30 January 2009. | |
| President of the Massachusetts Senate | |
| In office January 1996 – December 2002 |
|
| Preceded by | William M. Bulger |
| Succeeded by | Robert Travaglini |
| Member of the Massachusetts Senate from the Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex district |
|
| In office January 1991 – December 2002 |
|
| Preceded by | Francis D. Doris |
| Succeeded by | Jarrett Barrios |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 4, 1949 |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Selma Botman |
| Children | Erica and Megan |
| Alma mater | Harvard, Harvard Law |
Thomas Francis Birmingham (born August 4, 1949) is the former President of the Massachusetts Senate. He is widely credited, along with Mark Roosevelt, with passage of a sweeping education bill, the Education Reform Act of 1993. He is a graduate of Austin Preparatory School, Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and received a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University, after graduating from Harvard College in 1972. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for Massachusetts governor in 2002, despite impressive fundraising. An avid cyclist, Birmingham biked across the state of Massachusetts in 2001 [1][2]
In 1999, his proposal to keep the home stadium of The New England Patriots in Massachusetts was accepted by Patriots owner Robert Kraft and passed by the state legislature.
Today, Birmingham serves as Senior Counsel at the law firm of Edwards, Angell, Palmer & Dodge, and recently taught state and local government at Tufts University, and teaches education policy at Northeastern University in Boston. His wife, Selma Botman, has a Ph.D in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University and serves as the President of the University of Southern Maine. They have two daughters, Erica Birmingham, a graduate of Harvard College, and Megan Birmingham, a student at Bates College.