Brion M. Cangiamila

Brion M. Cangiamila (1962 to 2014) was a Billerica Republican who was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives at the age of 28 and later served six years on the Select Board. He was born in Medford on February 22, 1962, and grew up in Billerica, graduating in 1980 from Shawsheen Valley Technical High School, where he was alumni class president. He earned a degree from Fisher Junior College in 1982 and later attended Bentley College. He worked in the mortgage industry and in other businesses, and was for a time a part owner of a dog grooming business in Beverly.

He entered town politics young. At twenty he ran for the Shawsheen Valley Regional Vocational School Committee in 1982 and lost to Kenneth L. Buffum, and in 1984 he was elected a Town Meeting member. He chaired the Arts Council in the 1980s and served as its treasurer, and in 1989 he announced to town meeting that the art gallery on the ground floor of the town hall had been named the Vivian F. Porter Art Gallery; one of his own paintings was then on display there. In 1990 he made the case at town meeting for turning the old Billerica Town Hall into the Billerica Artistic Center, telling the members that the Arts Council had pledged to raise the money itself "so that we both have an understanding of the future of the building." In 1985 the moderator named him chairman of the New Town Hall Study Committee, appointed to study converting the old Howe High School into a town hall, and he later chaired the Howe Revitalization Committee. From 1985 to 1991 he sat on the Personnel Board, much of the time as its chairman, arguing at town meeting in 1987 that the Town Clerk's salary was "grossly off" compared with eleven area towns and in 1988 opposing the hiring of a personnel director.

In 1988 he ran for state representative in the 24th Middlesex District and lost to Michael J. Rea Jr., but in 1990 he won the Republican primary over George Simolaris Jr. and the general election over William G. Greene Jr., 7,630 votes to 6,691, and he served one term as Representative to the General Court in 1991 and 1992. At the 1991 town meeting, in "tough financial times," he moved to make the Town Accountant's position part-time, and he filed legislation for the town with Senator Patricia McGovern. In 1992 he ran for the state senate in the Second Essex and Middlesex District instead of for re-election and lost the Republican primary to James J. Gaffney III.

In April 1993 he topped the ticket for selectman with 2,668 votes as he and Paul F. Ford unseated Mary V. Wiroll and David F. Delorey Jr.. Having "elected not to accept a stipend," he asked town meeting that year to transfer his $1,315 salary to the Council on Aging, and he repeated the transfer in 1995. He moved the long-term lease of the Old Billerica Town Hall to the Billerica Historic Preservation Corporation, for at least thirty years with two ten-year renewals, and in December 1993 the board made him its permanent representative on the Cable Advisory Committee for the negotiations with Continental Cablevision. He was the Republican nominee for the state senate in the Fourth Middlesex District in 1994, losing to Robert A. Havern III. In 1996 he was re-elected selectman, again topping the ticket, and he served on the Ditson School Building Committee from 1996 to 2000. He ran for state representative again in 1998 and lost to Greene, and in April 1999 he finished third for selectman behind Peter M. Coppinger and Robert M. Correnti.

He stayed active in town meeting and party politics. He was the Republican candidate in the special election for the Fourth Middlesex senate seat in December 2007, losing to Jim Marzilli, ran for the same seat in 2008 against Kenneth J. Donnelly, and lost the 2010 Republican primary for state representative to Marc T. Lombardo. He was secretary of the Billerica Historical Society, a founding member of Kid's Konnection, past president of the Billerica Sons of Italy, and a member of the Elks, the Knights of Columbus and the Thomas Talbot Masonic Lodge. He died unexpectedly at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington on July 5, 2014, aged 52, and was buried in Fox Hill Cemetery, Billerica.

References

1. Lowell Sun obituary, Brion M. Cangiamila: born Medford Feb. 22, 1962, State Representative 1991-1993, Selectman 1993-1999, died July 5, 2014, buried Fox Hill Cemetery
2. Massachusetts election statistics: Brion M. Cangiamila (R), state representative and state senate contests 1988-2010
3. Billerica Town Report 1985, committee list: New Town Hall Study Committee (Howe High School conversion), Brion Cangiamila, Chairman
4. Billerica Town Report 1989, town meeting: Brion Cangiamila of the Arts Council announces the Vivian F. Porter Art Gallery
5. Billerica Town Report 1990, town meeting Article 38: old Town Hall as the Billerica Artistic Center, presented by Brion Cangiamila
6. Billerica Town Report 1990, state election: Representative in General Court, Brion M. Cangiamila 7,630
7. Billerica Town Report 1991, town meeting: Rep. Cangiamila moves to make the Town Accountant part-time
8. Billerica Town Report 1993, town election April 3, 1993: Selectmen, Brion M. Cangiamila 2,668 (elected)
9. Billerica Town Report 1993, town meeting: Selectman Cangiamila moves the long-term lease of the Old Billerica Town Hall to the Billerica Historic Preservation Corporation
10. Billerica Town Report 1993, town meeting Article 14: Selectman Cangiamila declines his stipend, $1,315 transferred to the Council on Aging
11. Billerica Town Report 1994, Cable Advisory Committee report: Selectman Brion Cangiamila made the board's permanent representative
12. Billerica Town Report 1996, Board of Selectmen report: Brion Cangiamila re-elected in April 1996, topping the ticket
13. Billerica Town Report 1999, town election April 10, 1999: Selectman, Coppinger 3,873, Correnti 2,979, Brion M. Cangiamila 1,734
14. Billerica Town Report 2015, In Memoriam: Brion Cangiamila, died July 5, 2014 (memorial misprints his selectman years as 1984-1991)