Dermot J. Meagher

Appointed to the Boston Municipal Court in 1989 by Governor Michael S. Dukakis, Dermot Meagher was the first openly Gay judge in Massachusetts. He heard criminal and civil cases, jury and jury waived, until his retirement in 2006.

Thereafter he did what he wanted to do. He took drawing and painting classes at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the Provincetown Art Association, and Castle Hill in Truro.

He drew and painted. His work was exhibited at galleries and museums across Massachusetts and in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Two books of his drawings were published, Provincetown Drawings and Naked.

He also wrote Judge Sentences:Tales from the Bench, a memoir, published by the University Press of New England and wrote and published three mysteries, Lyons, Tigers and Bears, Lyons at the Gate and Lyons Foxes and Bears as well as two books of poems A Moth to the Flame and Lovers, Boyfriends, Tricks and Crushes.

In 1970 he was a co-author with Robert Coles, M.D and Joseph Brenner, M.D of Drugs and Youth

In the early Seventies he directed the Percentage Deposit Bail Project for the Chief Justices of the District and Superior Court that resulted in the virtual abolition of bail bondsmen, as well as reform of the pre-trial release system in Massachusetts. With John Conklin, Ph.D. he wrote a report of the project’s findings, also revealing that over a million dollars was owed to the Commonwealth by Bail Bondsmen and Insurance Surety companies.

Thereafter he worked on Court Reform in Massachusetts and wrote a report, Administrative Power in the Massachusetts Courts, which contributed to the Court Reforms of 1978.

He crashed in 1974-75. He began recovery in 1975 with the help of his friends and remained clean and sober.

In 1976 he became an Assistant Bar Counsel at the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers, investigating and prosecuting lawyers for violations of the Lawyers’ Canon of Ethics. He became a First Assistant Bar Counsel and served in that capacity until his appointment in 1989.

He graduated from Harvard College in 1962, Boston College Law School in 1965, was a fellow at the Center for Criminal Justice at Harvard Law School in 1970-71 and received an M.P.A. degree from the Kennedy School at Harvard in 1980.

Before being appointed a judge he was a founder of Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers (LCL) in Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association (MLGBA). He was appointed the Gay and Lesbian member of the Boston Human Rights Commission by Mayor Raymond Flynn.

Before being appointed a judge he was a member of the Boston Lesbian and Gay Political Alliance, the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Political Caucus as well as Massachusetts Gay Democrats. He was a Ward Committee Member of Ward Three in Boston. He was a member of the Legal Services Committee of The AIDS Action Committee. After retirement he became a board member of the Cape Cod AIDS Support Group.

He was the second of six children of Elizabeth McDermott and John H. Meagher, Jr. His parents and older brother Sean predeceased him . He is survived by a sister, Mary, three brothers, Andrew, Padric and Timothy as well as three nephews Drew, Luke and Sean Meagher and a niece, Regina Meagher.

A Celebration of Dermot’s life will take place in Provincetown, MA in spring or summer 2024.