LYNN — David Hegan treated every child in the Lynn Public Schools system as his own — ensuring that they had a reliable way to get to and from school, no matter what, even if that meant working well into the night.
On Aug. 1, Hegan, who for 23 years served as director of transportation for Lynn Public Schools, and for the last 11 years, served as the manager for the Lynn Public Schools Welcome Center, died in his home at the age of 63. Hegan also served as president of the Administrators’ Union of the Lynn Public Schools.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Tutwiler, who worked with Hegan for seven years after Hegan interviewed Tutwiler for the role of deputy superintendent in 2015, said Hegan’s ability to relate and empathize with anyone around him made him not only a colleague but also a friend.
“I met him shortly after I arrived, and from that point began a really wonderful professional relationship, but also, a wonderful friendship. I considered Dave my friend,” Tutwiler said. “Dave has many gifts, but two that I’ll speak to is Dave relates really easily to everyone. He is so easy to talk to, and because of that, people would stop into his office and talk to him on their way into their department and just connect with him, to hear from him, to offer a challenge, to share a challenge, to get his advice, and quite frankly, I was one of those people.”
Tutwiler also said that professionally, Hegan’s unique ability to efficiently solve problems made a significant impact on the students and families he served.
“The other gift that Dave had, which had an impact significantly in the district, was his logistical thinking. He had a mathematical mind like no other, which made, for him, solving problems very easy, whether it was a routing issue in transportation during his time as the director of the welcome center, figuring out apartment schedules, or ways to accommodate families better, he just had an incredible mind. He was an incredible relationship builder, and an incredible problem solver,” Tutwiler said. “He will be sorely missed, but he left an indelible impact on the Lynn Public Schools and he will be remembered fondly in decades to come.”
Former Superintendent of Schools Catherine Latham said that she had kept in touch with Hegan for four years after her retirement. Latham said that Hegan treated every student he served as if they were his own children, often working late nights to ensure that every child in the district had a reliable way to get to school.
“He knew every bus, and every child on every bus, I swear, and he didn’t go home until he knew that every single child was home too, and sometimes that meant during a snowstorm or bad weather, the buses don’t always make it when we want them to. He was always on duty. He stayed late at night and he wouldn’t leave until everything was taken care of, he was great,” Latham said. “Any decision that he made, we both made together. He didn’t have any children of his own, but every child in the Lynn Public Schools he treated as if they were his own and did right by them.”
Latham said that she spoke with Hegan on the phone only weeks before his death. She said that Hegan’s death not only dealt a loss to her, and his friends, but to the entire school district.
“I will miss him so greatly, he was such an honorable man,” Latham said. “He wasn’t just my loss, he’s a loss to the Lynn Public Schools. He had so much knowledge in his head about transportation, our student assignment plan, which was very very important, and our union, the Administrators’ Union, and our history. He will be such a loss for the entire Lynn Public Schools.”
Hegan’s brother, Michael, said that he would like his brother to be remembered for his love for his job and the people he worked with, along with his warmth and generosity.
“What stands out the most to me about Dave is he was a very generous man. He was good at his job, he loved his job, and the people who worked for him loved him,” he said. “He loved his career, and he loved my grandchildren. My son has three children, my daughter has one, and he was always very generous toward them, he never forgot a birthday or Christmas or any other occasion.”
Hegan was buried at St. Joseph’s Cemetery Friday, Aug. 5. In the days following Hegan’s interment, Mayor Jared Nicholson, in a statement, said that Hegan will be missed by the community.
“The loss of David Hegan is devastating and will leave a gap within our community,” Nicholson said. “We are grateful for his incredible contribution to the City and our students over the years.”
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at [email protected].
