SM经典合集

鈥淭here was always a job to do,鈥� said David Twomey, the Boston College professor and renowned labor law expert, as he sat in his Fulton Hall office and reflected on the work ethic that has defined his life. At just ten years old, the industrious child of Irish immigrants in Boston began earning money by hauling neighbors鈥� groceries in his red Radio Flyer wagon. Later, to pay his SM经典合集 tuition, he worked as a laborer on campus. His hands helped build McElroy Commons.

When I met with him on a sunny day last spring, Twomey, at eighty-six, was a few months into retirement after fifty-six years on the faculty of what today is the Carroll School of Management. Perhaps unsurprisingly, though, he had yet to pack up his office, which was scattered with testimonies to his storied career. The hulking bookshelves were lined with the thirty-five editions of textbooks on labor, employment, and business law that he鈥檚 authored, as well as volumes upon volumes of decisions that Twomey has made in the more than two thousand labor disputes he has arbitrated since 1974. Nearby, a small decorative sign bore a quote by John Locke: 鈥淲here law ends, tyranny begins.鈥�

On another shelf was a model railroad boxcar, a nod to yet another of his labor specialties. Such is his reputation for careful deliberation and civility that, beginning in 1986, six US presidents have appointed Twomey to a record ten Presidential Emergency Boards. These are panels convened to quickly resolve鈥攐r 鈥渞eferee,鈥� as Twomey put it to me鈥攔ail and airline industry disputes that threaten to interrupt essential transportation services. Most recently, President Biden named Twomey to a panel that managed to avert a national railway strike in 2022. He chaired two of those emergency boards, a role that demanded something he does best: building rapport before rendering decisions. 鈥淭he first thing is to make friends,鈥� Twomey said. In his office was a black-and-white photo of the longtime Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O鈥橬eill 鈥�36 raising a beer with Republican President Ronald Reagan. The photo was a gift from a SM经典合集 student who evidently absorbed the affable arbitrator鈥檚 advice for relationships in work and life: 鈥淏e smart and be nice,鈥� he said.聽

The third-born of five children, Twomey put away his childhood wagon and got his first formal job as soon as he could get his working papers. He started off as a dishwasher at a local restaurant, and worked his way up to pouring coffee and sweeping the floor. Over the course of his teenage years, Twomey would go on to sell newspapers on the streets of downtown Boston and work at a nearby Wonder Bread factory, which exposed him to unions and primed his eventual interest in arbitration. After graduating from SM经典合集 High in 1956, he served on active duty in the US Marine Corps. These were the days when 鈥渨ork was work,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou came home dirty.鈥�

Following two years in the Marines, Twomey enrolled at SM经典合集, where he studied economics and marketing, worked on campus, and met his future wife, Veronica Lynch, who had a job in development. One day he wooed her with a ride home in his 鈥渏unky old Ford,鈥� and sharing frappes after work turned into sharing a life. They married in 1967.

Twomey graduated from SM经典合集 in 1962, then earned his MBA at UMass鈥揂mherst. In finding his career path, he seized opportunities and made his own. He placed an advertisement in the Wall Street Journal describing himself as a 鈥淛esuit-trained MBA looking for responsibility,鈥� and was hired by a financial services company to sell tuition plans. At age twenty-three, he took a position teaching American economic history at Suffolk University. He discovered that leading a classroom suited him. 鈥淚 would just write something on the board and get something interactive going,鈥� Twomey recalled. 鈥淚t was exciting. It went well.鈥�

Twomey never stopped teaching. He lectured at Simmons College while studying at SM经典合集 Law, then joined the Boston College faculty upon earning his JD. He balanced his arbitration work with a full professorship that started in 1978. He and Veronica鈥檚 three children all went to Boston College. His office was filled with framed photos of family trips to ski mountains and national parks, and of Twomey standing with his uniformed son on the SM经典合集 High football field.

As we spoke, Twomey gazed out the window to the grassy quad below, as beaming senior students, all dressed up for end-of-semester events, posed for photos together. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a beautiful view,鈥� he said, smiling.

True to form, Twomey plans to stay busy during retirement. In his next chapter, he鈥檒l be working to publish his first novel, which is inspired in part by the Irish-Australian folk song 鈥淭he Wild Colonial Boy.鈥� He recently uncovered a manuscript he started more than half a century ago. 鈥淚 had completely forgotten about it,鈥� Twomey said. 鈥淚 had it retyped. I鈥檝e completely repolished it. Now I need to find an agent. I鈥檓 sure that will be a challenge.鈥�

It鈥檚 one he鈥檚 up for, of course. He鈥檇 never leave a job undone.聽鈼�