|
| Affiliation | Democratic |
|
| <- |
2011-01-01 |
|
|
| Name | Robert K. "Bob" Massie IV |
| Address | 140 Sycamore St
Somerville, Massachusetts , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | http://bobmassie.org/ |
| Donate |  |
| Born |
August 17, 1956
(67 years)
|
| Contributor | RBH |
| Last Modifed | RBH
Jun 07, 2018 12:04pm |
| Tags |
Italian - Married - Episcopalian - Straight -
|
| Info | A resident of Somerville, father of three children, and lifelong activist, Bob Massie has one of the most extraordinary stories in American politics.
He was born in 1956 with classical hemophilia, a severe bleeding disorder that damaged his joints and disrupted his ability to walk and attend school. Despite these challenges he graduated from high school at age sixteen and attended Princeton University, where he majored in history. Even at this time he was well known for his tireless activism for access to health care in the United States, for freedom for prisoners of conscience in the Soviet Union, and for justice in South Africa.
In 1978 he decided to enter a new form of community service by attending Yale Divinity School. He received his masters degree in 1982 and was ordained a minister in the Episcopal Church. He accepted a position as an assistant at Grace Church in Manhattan, where he had a full roster of responsibilities including teaching and working with the other staff members to open a homeless shelter.
In 1984, because of his interest in economics, he received a full scholarship for a doctorate from Harvard Business School. Over the next five years he wrote his dissertation while serving as one of Harvard University's Fellows in Ethics and the Professions. Upon completing his degree in 1989, he became a member of the faculty at Harvard Divinity School.
In 1993 he spent six months in South Africa as senior Fulbright Scholar on the faculty of the University of Cape Town. During this period he travelled around the country interviewing scores of individuals for his book, Loosing the Bonds: The United States and South Africa in the Apartheid Years. After nearly ten years of research, the book eventually won the Lionel Gelber Prize, the largest nonfiction prize in the world, given to the best book on international relations.
Living in South Africa during the period that the country was creating a new constitution persuaded him anew about the transformative power of democracy. He returned to Massachusetts and decided to run for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. He began in late 1993 with no name recognition, no network, and no money, yet in September 1994 he won the statewide primary. Two months later he and his running mate Mark Roosevelt lost to the Republican incumbents, Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci.
Shortly afterwards he became the president of Ceres, the largest coalition of investors and environmental groups in the United States. In this capacity he mobilized the power of shareholders and other groups to negotiate environmental and energy improvements at many of the country's largest corporations. Responding to a request from business executives, institutional investors, labor unions, and activist groups, he founded and chaired the Global Reporting Initiative, which became the leading international standard for disclosure of corporate performance on energy, labor, environmental, and human rights practices. The GRI guidelines are supported by the United Nations and are in use by more than 1,300 global companies.
In 2003 Bob Massie suffered a setback. Though he had been exposed to the HIV virus through his hemophilia treatments many years before, his immune system proved to have a rare resistance to it. Unfortunately, he also contracted Hepatitis C which his immune system could not defeat. This eventually led to liver cirrhosis that damaged his liver; he had to leave his job and return home for the next six years to wait for a transplant. During this long period, despite his reduced energy, he
was involved with many political and issue campaigns. He also spent years reading American history in order to deepen his understanding of our national story.
In July 2009, his life took a miraculous turn, when he received a liver transplant at Emory University hospital. Within six months his energy had been restored, his viruses had been suppressed, and his lifelong hemophilia had been completely cured. He is now in better health than at any point in his life.
He is stepping forward into politics again, as the next step in his lifelong devotion to the principles that have defined American society: opportunity, creativity, and justice. His personal and professional experiences have merged into a powerful dedication to our tradition and our future, preparing him to serve the citizens of Massachusetts as a public servant -- and leader -- in the United States Senate.
[Link] |
 | BOOKS |
 |
|
| Title |
Purchase |
Contributor |
|
| Start Date |
End Date |
Type |
Title |
Contributor |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
| INFORMATION LINKS |
|
|
|
