2023-04-26 04:02:44
Former U.S. Representative John W. Olver represented the Town of Amherst for more than 40 years of public service.
Sophie Hauck / Daily Collegian.
On Sunday, constituents, colleagues and friends of former delegate John Olver gathered under the wooden ceiling of the John W. Olver Design Building to celebrate the life and legacy of the UMass professor-turned-public servant.
Olver died in late February following 43 years as an Amherst community steward, serving as a state representative, state senator and congressman until his final term ended in 2012. Olver entered public life following teaching chemistry at UMass for eight years, a part of his career that U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren says defined his unique approach to legislation.
“John answered the call to public service with the curiosity of an educator, the precision of a scientist, and the integrity of the man he was,” Warren said in a video message. “He was as much at home in the Capitol as he was in a classroom or on a farm.”
Warren remembers having “long conversations” regarding transportation with Olver, who spearheaded the creation of the John W. Olver Transit Center in Franklin County, the nation’s first net-zero transition center.
Representative Jim McGovern remembered Olver for his dedication to the environment and recounted hiking with Olver and a group of reporters at Mount Holyoke in Hadley following the town was recut from Olver to the constituency by McGovern.
“John was commenting on everything, telling us regarding the moss, the trees, the rock formations, the birds and the bugs,” McGovern said. When Olver walked past and made a strange noise, McGovern recalled thinking the former MP had suffered a heart attack, as he marveled at an unusual scene in nature.
“He said to me, ‘Could it be sassafras that grows that high?’, to laughter from the crowd. He was unique, but above all effective… He used his position on the credit committee to ensure that funding was available for everything he cared regarding”. McGovern pointed out that Olver has mentored a new generation of public servants, including Natalie Blais and former Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz, who served on his team in Congress and in his district.
“The people he attracted, who he brought into public service, were the best of the best,” McGovern said.
McGovern District Manager Jon Niedzielski was one of many former Olver aides who attended the ceremony, giving the former congressman credit for sounding the alarm on climate change. before it was a topic of national discussion.
“He had a way of seeing the forest through the trees,” Niedzielski said following the ceremony. “He knows that sometimes it takes a long time for people to buy into an idea.”
Olver was instrumental in the development of UMass’ design building, which the university calls “the largest and most technologically advanced contemporary wooden academic structure.”
“No other project better embodies John’s commitment to the environment, his love of science and planning, and his desire to bring people together for the common good,” said UMass Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy in a statement. statement following Olver’s death.
The architects were planning a steel frame, but Olver was able to convince the university to create a wooden structure that exemplifies the latest advances in green building. He then secured partial funding from the state legislature for the building project to demonstrate the impact of mass timber on the area.
“When [les étudiants] come in here, they see this vaulted ceiling and the trees on the roof, someone must have had this idea and been the person who said, ‘You really have to do this,'” Niedzielski said. “John was that kind of person.”
Sophie Hauck can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @SophieBHauck.
Natalie Koopman is a French translator and can be reached at [email protected].
Constance Sourisse can be reached at [email protected].
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