John T. McKennan (November 25, 1918 – November 28, 2011) was an American lawyer and politician from

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Life

John T. McKennan was born on November 25, 1918, in Utica,

Oneida County, New York Oneida County is a county in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 232,125. The county seat is Utica. The name is in honor of the Oneida, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois League or ''Haudenos ...

, the son of John P. McKennan and Rena Dowd McKennan. He attended Our Lady of Lourdes School, Utica Free Academy and

Scarborough Day School The Scarborough Day School was a private school in Scarborough-on-Hudson, in Briarcliff Manor, New York. Frank and Narcissa Cox Vanderlip established the school in 1913 at their estate, Beechwood. The school, a nonsectarian nonprofit college prep ...

. He graduated from

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and

Albany Law School Albany Law School is a private law school in Albany, New York. It was founded in 1851 and is the oldest independent law school in the nation. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and has an affiliation agreement with University at A ...

. During

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he served in the U.S. armed forces. After the war he practiced law with a firm in

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until 1947 when he returned to Utica. McKennan entered politics as a

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, and was Assistant Corporation Counsel of Utica; Counsel to the Municipal Water Works of Utica. In 1948, he was elected to the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

(41st D.) and served one term in then 1949 and 1950. At only age 29, this made McKennan the youngest person elected to the

until the election of

David Carlucci David S. Carlucci ( ; born April 3, 1981) is an American politician in Rockland County, New York. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the state senator for the 38th district, which includes most of Rockland County and parts of Westcheste ...

in 2010. On May 7, 1955, he married Marguerite Gallagher, and they had three sons. McKennan was

Mayor of Utica This article contains a list of mayors of the city of Utica in the U.S. State of New York, in the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country prim ...

from 1956 to 1959. As mayor, McKennan was best known for spearheading the construction of the Utica Memorial Auditorium (now known as the

Adirondack Bank Center The Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium is a 3,860-seat multi-purpose arena in Utica, New York, with a capacity of 5,700 for concerts. Nicknamed the Aud, it is the home arena of the Utica Comets, the AHL affiliate of the NHL ...

) and securing the funding from Governor

W. Averell Harriman William Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891July 26, 1986), better known as Averell Harriman, was an American Democratic politician, businessman, and diplomat. The son of railroad baron E. H. Harriman, he served as Secretary of Commerce un ...

for the North-South Arterial Highway. His other accomplishments included the construction of Valley View Golf Club and the first public swimming pool located in North Utica. A wide-ranging corruption scandal resulted in the indictment of numerous Utica city employees during his term, but he himself was not indicted. He did not run for reelection in 1959, instead running for City Judge of Utica, but was defeated by Matthew S. Ogonowski Sr. McKennan was

Clerk of the New York State Assembly The Clerk of the New York State Assembly heads the administration of the New York State Assembly. The outgoing clerk of the previous session presides over a new Assembly until a Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politi ...

from February 9, 1965, to January 8, 1969, officiating in the 175th, 176th and

177th New York State Legislature The 177th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 4, 1967, to May 25, 1968, during the ninth and tenth years of Nelson Rockefeller's governorship, in Albany. Backgro ...

s. He was also elected unanimously by delegates of all political parties to serve as Secretary of the

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of 1967. In March 1982, Governor

Hugh Carey Hugh Leo Carey (April 11, 1919 – August 7, 2011) was an American politician and attorney. He was a seven-term U.S. representative from 1961 to 1974 and the 51st governor of New York from 1975 to 1982. He was a member of the Democratic Party. ...

appointed McKennan to the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

(5th D.) to fill the vacancy caused by the appointment of

Richard J. Cardamone Richard Joseph Cardamone (October 10, 1925 – October 16, 2015) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Early life and career Born in Utica, New York in 1925, Cardamone was in the United ...

to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.''Carey picks McKennan for Supreme Court judge''
in ''The Daily Press'', of Utica, on March 31, 1982 In November 1982, McKennan ran for a full term, but was defeated, and left the bench at the end of the year. In 1988, McKennan was appointed as a Judicial Hearing Officer by the Chief Administrative Judge of the State. The

Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York is responsible for the general supervision of all educational activities within New York State, presiding over University of the State of New York and the New York State Education Depa ...

appointed him to its review board for licensed professionals. In 1999, he was appointed as a Judicial Hearing Officer for the State Retirement System. John T. McKennan died on November 28, 2011, in

New Hartford, New York New Hartford is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Oneida County, New York, United States. As of the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census, the town population was 22,166. The name of New Hartford was provided by a settler fam ...

; and was buried at the St. Bernards Cemetery in Waterville.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKennan, John T. 1918 births 2011 deaths Democratic Party New York (state) state senators Clerks of the New York State Assembly Mayors of Utica, New York Syracuse University alumni Albany Law School alumni New York Supreme Court Justices American Roman Catholics 20th-century American judges