Nahant remembers longtime proponent of town government

NAHANT – He held so many positions in the course of 30 years living in town – Chairman of the School Needs Committee, Finance Committee member, Democratic Town Committee Treasurer – but perhaps Dr. Bernard Yadoff’s most appropriate title was citizen.”A citizen with a capital C,” said friend Pete Rogers.”Bernie was always at Town Hall,” remembered Linda Pivacek, a friend and chair of the Open Space Committee. “When anything was needed – whether an election or a blood drive – he was always volunteering. He was just an amazing guy.”Yadoff died on Saturday after a long struggle with emphysema at the age of 84.His longtime partner, Emily Potts, welcomed a stream of visitors Wednesday at her house and boxes of Kleenex were available next to every seat.”If he supported something, he always said, ‘it would be good for the community,'” remembered Potts. “But I don’t know if people really knew how much he really cared about the people individually as well as a group. People were really dear to him.”Friends said that while Yadoff was “unwavering” in his beliefs, he remained a respected person in the small town.”He loved that town, he got there and he felt like he was home,” said Yadoff’s granddaughter Jamie Lyons. “People didn’t always agree with him, didn’t always see eye-to-eye, but there was a lot of respect.”Potts and Lyons said that Yadoff attributed his commitment to community from his education in The Bronx.The son of Russian immigrants, he not only learned to speak English in school but learned about citizenship. Potts said he reported learning about the New England Town Meeting as the “purest form of democracy.”The lesson sparked a lifelong cause to promote free speech and open government.”He believed so much that there should be a free exchange of ideas,” Potts recalled. “He was a strong believer in free speech and thought that people should be able to share ideas without fear.”Yadoff was an active member of the American Civil Liberties Union in both Pennsylvania – where he lived and practiced as a psychologist for many years after earning his PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Pittsburgh – and locally.Closer to home in Nahant, where he moved in 1976, he was known for his regular attendance at Town Meeting as well as his commitment to televising every selectmen’s meeting and school committee meeting.”ACLU was the first acronym I knew in my life,” joked Lyons. “He really believed in the power of an individual and a group of individuals to come to a good decision,” she continued. “I think that’s what he really loved about Town Meeting and really loved about Nahant. It was a great microcosm of what the American government is supposed to be.”It was a lesson that Lyons learned and is now teaching to the next generation: An American history teacher on the South Shore, she offers extra credit if her students attend Nahant Town Meeting.But Yadoff’s dedication to innumerable – and his friends said, sometimes seemingly interminable – meetings over the years also made him a predictable figure at Town Meeting.”He was always calling the question at Town Meeting,” remembered Selectman Richard Lombard.Lyons remembered his devotion to following the rules at Town Meetings.”He and Robert’s Rules of Order (the “rulebook” for Town Meting) went hand-in-hand,” she said.But Potts said that despite disagreement, Yadoff abided by his commitment to free speech without fear.”Even when things were really controversial and people were mad at him, he wasn’t afraid of their anger,” Potts said. “He believed everybody was human and that was all that needed to be said.”