GLOUCESTER: Former Mayor Robert L. French died May 26, 2009 at Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester after a brief illness. He was 93 years old. His death ended a varied career, which included active roles in a number of important Cape Ann and Massachusetts organizations. He was the husband of the late Elizabeth (Godbeer) French, who died in December of 2002.
Born in Sault Ste. Marie, MI, in l915, and brought up in Niagara Falls, NY, French studied at the University of Michigan, where he earned A.B. and M.A. degrees in psychology, and at Stanford University, where he specialized in physiological psychology, receiving the Ph. D. degree in 1940. He then moved to Yale University as an instructor and research fellow.
At Yale he met Elizabeth Godbeer, a psychology graduate student from Fitchburg via Mount Holyoke College, who later achieved wide professional recognition for her research on motivation and its measurement. They were married in 1941.
After Pearl Harbor, and for the balance of World War II, French worked at various naval bases on projects for the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development, devising and testing methods for training naval personnel to use sonar and other new anti-submarine equipment. After the war, he joined the psychology faculty at Northwestern University, where he taught social psychology and statistics and did research on group behavior. At the outbreak of the Korean War, he went to work for the Air Force Training Command in San Antonio, where he organized and directed a new research program on methods for composing bomber crews and other work groups, and training them as teams.
In 1957 French joined The Psychological Corporation, a test development and consulting firm in New York, as director of consumer and opinion survey services, and three years later moved back to Chicago as Vice President of Science Research Associates, a young company which produced and marketed educational materials, standardized tests, and test programs such as the National Merit Scholarship Tests and American College Tests (ACT).
In 1965, after Science Research Associates had been acquired by IBM, French and his wife moved to Gloucester, built a house in Annisquam, and settled down for the rest of their lives. Although he continued for several years as a consultant to Science Research Associates and several federal agencies, including the Peace Corps, he soon found himself working full-time as a volunteer in various local and state organizations.
Concerned about increasingly serious environmental problems, French offered to help the Massachusetts Audubon Society conduct some membership surveys, which led to his election to the Board of Directors and further work aimed at increasing Audubon membership. On the local scene he worked with an Annisquam group linked to the Essex County Greenbelt Association raising money to acquire and preserve land on Goose Cove. Membership on the Greenbelt Board followed, and a request from Carroll Steele to help with the Addison Gilbert Hospital’s 1969 Building Fund campaign. Active service in that campaign led to election in 1970 as a hospital Trustee.
At about this time French got interested in politics. He worked in Michael Harrington’s first campaign for Congress in 1970, and then decided to run for the Gloucester City Council. In that era Gloucester had a "Plan E" government, with a City Manager, a seven-person Council elected at large, and a part-time Mayor, elected by and from the Council, who presided over it and the School Committee, and served as ceremonial head of the city. Traditionally the Council had elected as Mayor the Councilor receiving the highest popular vote. French turned out to be the top vote-getter and thereby became mayor.
His two years as Mayor were dominated by two major circumstances. One was growing pressure from outside agencies for large-scale developments in the city. The Council responded with a number of measures to improve city planning and land use, including upgrading of residential zoning, stricter regulation of large development programs, a full-time city planner, and a new board to assist in planning the city’s capital expenditures. The second key circumstance was the year-long observance, in 1973, of the city’s 350th anniversary, an activity which involved a great deal of satisfying effort on the part of many local citizens as well as the Council.
French was reelected to the Council for two subsequent terms, but without gaining the top vote. His efforts to insure better planning continued, however, along with a broad range of initiatives concerning budget review, evaluation of the City Manager, environmental conservation and economic development. He proposed establishment of the Cape Ann Transportation Authority (CATA), and sponsored other proposals for regional services. In 1974, independently of his Council position, he organized and directed for Betty Smith and the Downtown Development Commission a large, city-wide survey of people’s shopping habits and attitudes regarding downtown, and served as a member of the Commission.
In 1975 Gloucester voters decided to shift to a "Strong Mayor" form of government, one in which the voters decide on the Mayor, and the Mayor manages the city. In the first subsequent election French ran for Mayor against Leo Alper, a Gloucester native and new City Councilor. Alper won in a close contest.
While Mayor and Councilor, French had remained active in the Hospital, serving for a time as Treasurer and on several related boards, including the Cape Ann Mental Health Center and the North Shore Health Planning Council. Freed from city responsibilities, he was elected President of the Hospital Board. Now he faced the full range of problems in this community hospital, working closely with Administrator Ted Scharfenstein, the Board, and the Medical Staff.
The efforts of this team over a period of years led to significant improvements in the hospital's financial status, Board structure, and physical plant. In 1984 a reorganization of the hospital created the Addison Gilbert Foundation to serve as "parent" of the hospital and related health care facilities, and as the fund-raising organization for these. In 1985 French stepped down as Hospital Board Chairman, an occasion which prompted the Board to name the former nurses' residence the "Robert L. French Center". A year later he resigned as Foundation Chairman, a post he had held for two years.
A Board member of the Essex County Greenbelt Association from 1969 to 1989, French played a leading role in raising funds for land acquisition and operations, and in building membership. One notable project, agreed on with then Mayor Silva, involved raising money to help the city buy land in the heart of Dogtown that was still privately owned, and developing a city management program and oversight committee for the entire Dogtown area. During his last two years on the Greenbelt Board, his work as hospital Chairman concluded, French served as President of the Association.
French was an active member of the Board of the Massachusetts Audubon Society from 1970 to 1981, working primarily on studies pertinent to membership development. Subsequently, as an honorary Board member, he assisted in a number of fund raising programs. In 1981 he joined the Board of the Conservation Law Foundation of New England, where, again, his 12-year tenure was marked chiefly by fund-raising efforts.
In 1979 French received “The Gloucester Award” of the Gloucester Civic and Garden Council.
A major concern was the Cape Ann Historical Association. French had come to Gloucester with a growing interest in American art, and discovered that Cape Ann had played an important role in its history. As Mayor during Gloucester’s 350th Anniversary celebration, he instigated a 1973 exhibition at the Historical Museum of Cape Ann of paintings by famous American painters of an earlier day, an exhibition which focused national attention on the importance of Cape Ann in the development of 20th century American art. Later he was elected a Trustee of the organization, which he continued to support actively through most of his remaining years, helping with fund raising at various times, and serving on the Board of Directors and the Collections Committee, a body which has added substantially to the Museum's holdings of Cape Ann art and other historically important artifacts.
No matter what community organization he worked for as a volunteer, French sooner or later found himself raising money, and often organizing and directing a campaign. His major commitments have been mentioned, but in addition there were the Sawyer Free Library, the Cape Ann Symphony, the Gloucester Educational Assistance Foundation, Senior Home Care Services, and the Gloucester Universalist Church. In 1983 the New England Association of Healthcare Philanthropy gave him its annual Award for Distinguished Service to Philanthropy.
French had broad interests: reading, especially history and biography; playing tennis; watching the Red Sox; traveling in Europe and the Mediterranean as well as on other continents; symphony concerts, preferably in Boston; visiting museums and art galleries; collecting art on a modest scale; and last but not least, his two boys and their families, as well as other relatives and close friends.
A member of various academic, professional, environmental, and cultural organizations in addition to those already noted, French was a Corporator of the Cape Ann Savings Bank, and belonged also to Annisquam’s Leonard Club and the Annisquam Yacht Club, which he served in the 1970’s as Board member and Secretary. Although he did not run for public office after 1976, he retained an interest in local political affairs, and, as a member of the Democratic Party, continued to work for and support candidates for various state and federal offices.
He is survived by sons Jonathan French of San Francisco, CA, and Peter W. French of Alexandria, VA; and by three grandchildren, Helen French of Washington, DC, Emily French of New York City, and Ivana Lexa-French of San Francisco. He leaves, also, three nephews: Peter N. French of Lansing, NY, Eric French of Bradenton, FL, and David Brunell of Knoxville, TN. His brother Edward, his sister Margaret (French) Brunell, and all known cousins died earlier.
His memorial service will be held in the Annisquam Village, 820 Washington Street, Gloucester on Thursday, July 30th at 2 p.m. Relatives and friends are cordially invited to attend. In lieu of flowers, contributions in his memory may be made to the Cape Ann Museum, the Addison Gilbert Hospital, or any other local charitable organization of the donor’s choice.