On January 27, 2021, former New Bedford Mayor and current Southern Bristol County Register of Deeds, Dr. Frederick M. Kalisz, Jr. passed away due to complications with COVID-19, leaving behind his wife Pat, and his son, Ricky. While most newspaper articles focused on Fred’s career after he was elected mayor of the City of New Bedford in 1997, a few noted that Mayor Kalisz was also a Toxics Use Reduction Program Coordinator for the Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program at the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management from 1993 to 1997. To me, and the staff of the Buzzards Bay NEP, Fred was a kind-hearted co-worker and friend, and his passing was a shock to all of us.
In 1993, the Buzzards Bay NEP received a U.S. EPA grant to help industries in the City of New Bedford comply with the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Act of 1989 (TURA). While the state had been providing free technical assistance to help businesses comply with the Act, few manufacturers in New Bedford were seeking that assistance, or meeting the state reporting requirements. Our grant funded a program coordinator and an assistant to help city industries comply with the new state program.
When we advertised the position, we were uncertain of the type of background needed in a candidate, but leaning towards someone with an engineering background. After we interviewed Fred, he transformed our thinking; and we all agreed Fred was the ideal person for the job. As president of the New Bedford City Council, Fred was already immersed in the City’s still unresolved PCB Superfund clean-up strategy, and the city was in the midst of building a new wastewater facility under a consent decree with EPA. Fred was well respected by the business community and keenly aware of the economic problems facing the City. He was familiar with many of the companies in the City and knew some of them were not getting recognition for their toxic use reduction efforts.
During the next four years, Fred did a superb job advancing the TURA program in New Bedford. Fred conducted training workshops, produced a newsletter, brought technical staff from Boston into local factories, and helped companies comply with reporting requirements. His most important strategy was to bring recognition to successful toxic reductions by city manufacturers. Through his efforts, two area companies received the Governor’s award for outstanding achievement in toxic use reduction (Johnson & Johnson and Star Plating), and he helped Brittany Dye and Printing secure a $425,000 grant for energy and toxic use reduction.
In 1997, Fred resigned from the Buzzards Bay NEP to face a new challenge; he wanted to run for Mayor of New Bedford. He succeeded, and was Mayor from 1998 to 2006. As mayor, Fred continued to address environmental issues surrounding New Bedford, together with all the other challenges of the office. For me, however, one act during his tenure in office stood out for personal reasons. Both Fred and I grew up in New Bedford, and I told him how I attended the Sea Lab Oceanography School as a child, and that led to my career. When the new wastewater facility was built, and the old Sea Lab building on the property was torn down, I lamented the summer school no longer had a home in the City. Fred later told me he took my comment to heart, and that it helped inspire him to create a permanent home for Sea Lab. On July 11, 2005, in a dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony, New Bedford Mayor Frederick M Kalisz, opened a new $8.4 million, 30,000 square-foot permanent facility to house Sea Lab and the Marine Science Education Center for the City’s public school system. We have kept the event posted on our website ever since.
During his tenure as mayor, Fred Kalisz built three new middle schools, and remained a strong advocate for youth educational programs and the City’s school system. It is very fitting then, that this month, his family and friends established the Frederick M. Kalisz Memorial College Scholarship fund as a way to honor and remember his work and dedication to the City.
