Obituaries

Dennis P. Shea, Jr. of Weymouth died peacefully at home Sunday, December 8, 2013 from the effects of pancreatic cancer.

Dennis is the son of the late Mary and Dennis P. Shea, Sr. of Mission Hill.  He is survived by sisters Katherine Bath of Boston and Mary “Mazie” Madden of Milton, his wife of 48 years, Donna Shea of Weymouth, Cynthia Page and husband Arthur of Weymouth, Dennis A. Shea of Weymouth and Daniel Shea and his wife Janet of Bridgewater along with three granddaughters, Ashley Page of Weymouth, Catie Shea and Samantha Shea of Bridgewater along with a niece and grandnieces and nephews and grandnephews.

Dennis enjoyed sports, reading, gardening and cooking.  He was known for his garden fresh tomatoes and Thanksgiving turkeys.  This year’s bird, prepared under his supervision by sons Dennis and Daniel for consumption by family and friends, weighed 33.4 lbs. and was the largest one to date.

Another of Dennis’s passions was local politics.  He has served on the Weymouth Redevelopment Commission and Weymouth School Committee, becoming a founding member of the Weymouth Scholarship Fund during his tenure.  He worked extensively with legal counsel on The Charter Commission, drafting the legislation that converted Weymouth to a city form of government.

Dennis earned a BS degree in Business Administration at Northeastern University in 1963 and a Master’s Degree in 1968.  Additionally, he attended the School of Banking at Williams College and Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University earning awards and certificates in these programs.

Dennis began his career in 1963 at Shawmut Bank rising to the rank of Vice-President of Banking Operations.  He continued to work at Shawmut through its iterations as Connecticut National Bank and Fleet Bank.  After leaving Fleet he went to work for N.E. Financial, later becoming Met Life.  When his department was being moved to New Jersey, Dennis chose to remain in Massachusetts because of strong family ties here.  He went on to do consulting work auditing bank risk performance and later was employed by Sheshunoff Management Services.  He retired last year.

The family will welcome friends at a life celebration gathering at Dennis Sweeney Funeral Home, 74 Elm St., Quincy Center on Friday, Dec. 13 from 4 to 8.  A funeral mass will be celebrated Saturday, Dec. 14 at Sacred Heart Church, Washington Street, Weymouth Landing at 9:30a.m.

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the Friends of Weymouth Library, 46 Broad St., Weymouth, MA 02188 or BID Hospital-Milton, BID Hospital-Milton Development Office, 199 Reedsdale Road, Milton, MA 02186.

Dennis’s family expresses their appreciation to the caregivers at So. Shore Visiting Nurses, Hospice of the So. Shore and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton for the special care and attention he received during his illness.