John A. Kelly

John Andrew Kelly (November 30, 1943 – June 28, 1978), also known as Jack Kelly, was an American investigative journalist in Boston, Massachusetts, and he was one of the victims of the Blackfriars Massacre.[1]

Early life

Kelly was born in the Drexel Hill suburb of Philadelphia to Francis G. Kelly (1901–1966) and Rose M. (Lally) Kelly (1908–1973). His sister Kathleen was born in 1946. Francis Kelly was a salesman for Corn Products, which led the family to move to Manchester, New Hampshire in 1949. In 1952, the family settled in Brighton, Massachusetts and his father continued to work for Corn Products in South Boston. In Brighton, John Kelly attended St. Columbkille School, where he got his inspiration for a humorous story about growing up in parochial school, which was published in The Boston Globe Magazine in 1973, titled "The Sisters and the Kids". He was survived by his wife, four children, and one sister.

Military service

After graduating St. Columbkille School, John joined the U.S. Air Force. He left Brighton for basic training at Lackland AFB, on July 1, 1961, aged 17. After basic training, he was deployed to what was then Formosa, where he started his radio career in Armed Forces Radio. After returning to the United States he was stationed in Maryland. Upon his honorable discharge from the US Air Force, he took a job with Metropolitan Life Insurance and married Michele Larichiuta in 1964.

Career

In 1967, the family moved to Brighton, Massachusetts, where he worked for Ross Laboratories. In 1968, he joined WCAS (AM) as a reporter and producer of documentaries. In 1969, while working for WEZE, Kelly won an area wide reputation for hard hitting investigative reporting, including the first story on Senator Edward Kennedy's involvement in the Chappaquiddick incident three hours before any other station in the country had the story.

In 1970, he joined WBZ (AM) News, where he significantly contributed as investigative reporter for several years, earning awards for excellence in reporting from United Press International. Kelly joined WNAC-TV in 1974 as an investigative reporter.

Death

John Kelly died in the Blackfriars Massacre in 1978, aged 34.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ O'Brian, Dave; Sheehan, Tom (July 8, 2008). "The friends of Jack Kelly". The Boston Phoenix.
  2. ↑ "Timeline: Whitey Bulger's Life in Boston". WGBH. June 22, 2011.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.