Former Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank has passed away at the age of 86 at the humble Maine cottage he shared with his husband of more than 10 years, James Ready.
Frank’s passing comes weeks after he revealed that he had entered hospice with congestive heart failure—before later returning home to the property he retired to in 2021.
He is survived by his spouse, whom he wed in 2012, as well as his sisters, Ann Lewis and Doris Breay, and his brother, David Frank, according to the Associated Press.
The Democratic politician, who has been described as a “gay pioneer and liberal stalwart,” was famous for his work campaigning for gay rights—having become the first member of the House to voluntarily come out as gay in 1987.
Frank, who was born in New Jersey, moved to Massachusetts to attend Harvard University, before being elected to the state’s House of Representatives in 1972. He ran for Congress in 1980 and claimed a narrow victory against his Republican opponent, Richard A. Jones.
The liberal activist would spend the next 32 years serving as Congressman for Massachusetts’ 4th district, before being succeeded by Joe Kennedy III in 2013, having announced his decision not to run for re-election the previous year.
In addition to his pioneering work for gay rights, Frank was also credited with playing a key role in a significant piece of financial legislation—the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act—which he co-sponsored with Sen. Christopher Dodd in 2009, one year before it was signed off by President Barack Obama.
The legislation was targeted at tackling the 2007 housing the subsequent financial crisis the following year, seeking to “prevent the excessive risk taking” that led to the economic meltdown.
“The law also provides common-sense protections for American families, creating new consumer watchdog to prevent mortgage companies and pay-day lenders from exploiting consumers,” a 2010 statement issued by Obama’s administration stated.
“These new rules will build a safer, more stable financial system—one that provides a robust foundation for lasting economic growth and job creation.”
But it was perhaps Frank’s advocacy that earned him such a prominent reputation among voters. He led by example, famously insisting that his partner, Ready, be invited to all events at which partners of other representatives were expected to attend, according to The New York Times.
He wed Ready in a ceremony in Newton, MA, the same year that he announced he was stepping away from his Congressional seat—having met the architect at a political fundraiser in 2005.
In a New York Times piece about their wedding, the couple admitted that they had met when Ready was still in a relationship with his former partner, Robert Palmer, who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Ready and Palmer had attended the event in the hopes that the former would meet someone who could care for him after his partner’s death.
“[Robert] was looking for somebody to look out for me when he was gone,” Ready—who was working as a carpenter and welder in Ogunquit, ME, said at the time, adding that Palmer knew they had found the right man when they met Frank.
Ready would later admit that he’d “had a crush” on Frank for many years, having been “inspired” by the politician’s decision to come out publicly some 20 years prior.
After Palmer died in 2007, Frank flew to Maine to look after Ready, and soon after their romance began.
In 2015, Frank revealed that he and Ready had relocated to the carpenter’s hometown of Ogunquit part-time, noting that they were spending at least half the year in the quaint Maine locale, according to News Center Maine.
Property records show that the couple owned a charming cottage property in the town, which they purchased in 2021 for just $220,000, and which spanned just over 800 square feet when they bought it.
Tucked onto a leafy plot just off Main Street, the property was originally built in 1958, and records show that it is currently registered in Ready’s name.
However, the couple also owned a slightly larger beach cottage just 10 minutes down the road in Wells, ME, which they bought in 2013, after it had been listed for just over $554,000.
As with their smaller property, the Wells home is incredibly unassuming, offering three bedrooms and one bathroom across just over 1,100 square feet.
In 2020, the couple became embroiled in a lawsuit over the dwelling, when they sued a Massachusetts contractor they had hired to complete more than $200,000 of upgrades to the property.
According to the Boston Herald, Ready and Frank accused the worker of leaving the job before much of the work had been completed—despite paying him for the work upfront.
They alleged in their lawsuit that he owed them $92,000 from their original payment, as well as more than $31,000 they paid to “correct” the work he had completed.
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