George Theodore "Ted" Finnegan

Lieutenant (Junior Grade), U.S. Navy

George Theodore "Ted" Finnegan was born in Boston, MA, on 16 January 1922 to George T. Finnegan Sr. and Mary Stella (Bell). He was the second of three children, positioned between his older sister Mary Stella, and his younger brother, J. Paul. All three siblings remained very close throughout their long lives. He grew up in Milton with summers spent in Scituate, where he developed his life-long love of everything related to sailing and the sea.

He attended elementary schools in Milton, and also attended the New England Conservatory of Music on weekends through his high school years, where he developed a solid basis in classical piano and a particular talent for playing spontaneously by ear. He went on to attend Boston College High School, where he was a good athlete and an outstanding student, graduating at the top of his 1939 class. Ted attended Harvard College, Class of 1943, and majored in Bio-Chemical Sciences to earn the science and advanced math credits required to qualify for admission to the U.S. Naval Academy, earning a John Harvard merit scholarship for academic distinction in the process. After two years at Harvard, was admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating 6th of over 900 cadets in the Class of 1945.

During his Naval Academy years he met his future wife, Elizabeth Lee of Davenport, IA, who was attending Trinity College in Washington, DC. They were married shortly after his graduation in 1944, before his first deployment. Ted served aboard the Fletcher-class destroyer, USS Cassin Young, in the Pacific Theater. During Ted's deployment on the Cassin Young, it played a major role in the battle for Iwo Jima and the subsequent assault on Okinawa, earning a Navy Unit commendation for Distinguished Service and Gallantry. It was also the last naval vessel to be hit by kamikaze attacks in WWII.

After the war, Ted trained as a Naval Aviator and served in French Morocco, patrolling the "Iron Curtain" from the Middle East throughout Europe and up into Scandinavia. He was next assigned to the top secret U.S. Air Force Special Weapons Project at Albuquerque, NM, and subsequently served as a member of the Navy's new atomic bombing squadron based in Palo Alto, CA.

In 1948, Ted's Navy career was interrupted by special family circumstances that necessitated his relocation with his family back to the Boston area and civilian life. He applied to graduate programs at Harvard in law, medicine and business and after being accepted to all three, made the decision to attend Harvard Law School. He graduated with honors in 1952 and was selected to clerk for the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. He then joined the law firm of Ropes & Gray, where he practiced law for more than 40 years as a member of the litigation department. He retired from active practice in 1994, continuing on a part-time basis to develop a highly regarded jury trial practice program for young attorneys at the firm. In addition to his responsibilities at Ropes & Gray, he taught jury trial practice courses for MCLE at Harvard Law School and Boston University Law School.

During his residency in Milton, Ted managed zoning issues for the Town and functioned for many years as a coach for the Milton Little League. During his subsequent residency in South Boston, Ted served many of the local parishes and pastors as music director, cantor and organist. He also maintained an active role as a member of the USS Cassin Young Association and was the ship's oldest living WWII officer. During the last 8-10 years Ted maintained his full and active life.

LTJG George Theodore "Ted" Finnegan passed away peacefully in the company of his family at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA, on Monday, 2 January 2012, of respiratory arrest, two weeks shy of his 90th birthday. He is inurned at the United States Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, MD.

He is survived by 4 of his 5 children and their spouses: Catherine and Dr. Michael Shortsleeve of Lincoln, MA; Robert Finnegan and Kyung Hee Kim of Washington, DC; Maliz and Jim Beams of Weston, MA; and Eileen Finnegan of Boston, MA. He also leaves ten grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

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