Brett was born December 22,1949 in Boston.[2] Brett is a first-generation American,[3] being the son of parents to emigrated from the Irish town of Tubbercurry.[3][4] He grew up in the Savin Hill neighborhood as one of six siblings. The eldest sibling,his brother Jack,was born with an intellectual disability and died in 2010. In high school,Brett participated in a federal TRIO program called Upward Bound,which works with students to prepare them for college.[citation needed]
Brett represented the 14th Suffolk District from 1981 until his resignation in 1996 to became head of the New England Council. As a member of the House, Brett served as Chairman of the Joint Committee on Banks and Banking, the Joint Committee on Criminal Justice, the Joint Committee on Congressional Redistricting, the Joint Committee on Counties, the House Committee on Legislative Redistricting, the House Committee on Taxation, and the House Committee on Banking.[1]
Brett was regarded to be a political liberal. An exception to his generally liberal politics, however, was his anti-abortion stances.[6]
In 1993, he was a candidate in the Boston mayoral election. He finished second in the nonpartisan primary, but lost in the general election to Acting Mayor Thomas Menino.[7]
New England Council
Brett (right) in 2022 with U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, who had been Brett's successor in the Massachusetts House of RepresentativesBrett (right) with Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker in 2022Brett (right) with Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey in 2023
Brett is the president and CEO of the New England Council, a position he was appointed to in October 1996.[1][8]
Advocacy for people with disabilities
Brett, whose brother had intellectual disabilities, has been a longtime advocate for people with disabilities.[9]
President George W. Bush appointed Brett to the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities,[10] with Brett serving from 2002 into 2006.[11] In May 2011, President Barack Obama named Brett the committee's chairman.[12] His tenure as chair lasted into 2013.[10] Brett rejoined the committee in 2014, when Obama appointed him to again serve as a member.[11] He continued to serve on the committee into the Trump administration.[13] In March 2022, President Joe Biden named Brett to again serve as a member of the commission.[14] That June, Biden selected him to again serve as chairman of the committee.[15] Biden also had Brett travel as part of the official delegation he appointed to represent the United States government at the 2023 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Berlin.[16]
Brett has also served as chair of the Massachusetts Disabled Persons Protection Commission,[13][19] the Massachusetts Intellectual Disability Commission,[20] and chair of the Massachusetts' Governor’s Commission on Intellectual Disability.[19]
Other work
Brett formerly served as the president of the board of directors of the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health.[17][21] Brett as served on the advisory councils of the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps and the New England Center for Children.[22]As of 2024[update] he was a current trustee of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum,[3] which he has served on for many years.[23] He also served on the board of trustees of St. John’s Seminary[24] and the advisory board of the Irish International Immigrant Center.[25]
Brett served as the co-host of D.C. Dialogue, a public affairs program broadcast monthly on New England Cable News.[8]
In 2018, the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health awarded Brett the Michael and Kitty Dukakis Lifetime Achievement Award.[27] In 2023, Brett was the first-ever recipient of the Cultural Centre of Greater Boston's Brian J Donnelly Award.[28] Brett has also received Action for Boston Community Development’s Lifetime Public Service Award, Massachusetts Special Olympics' Distinguished Leadership Award, and Hospice of Boston's Humanitarian of the Year Award,[22] and in 2014 was bestowed the Disability Law Center's Edward M. Kennedy Leadership Award.[17]
In 1996, in honor of Brett, Bay Cove Human Services of Boston named a community home serving disabled adults "Brett House".[22][19] In 2021, EP Magazine (formerly Exceptional Parent Magazine) named Brett to the "50 for 50 Advocate Heroes" list compiled for the publication's 50th anniversary.[8] In 2013, the University of Massachusetts Boston established an endowed chair named for Brett. The James T. Brett Chair in Disability and Workforce Development is the only endowed chair in disability and workforce development in the United States,[17][29] the nation's only endowed chair for disability and workforce development.[19] In 2014, he was inducted into the Special Olympics Massachusetts Hall of Fame.[17]
Brett has received numerous honors recognizing him as a successful member of the Irish American community and the global Irish diaspora. The Central Remedial Clinic of Dublin, Ireland bestowed Brett with an "Appreciation Award" in 1991, and with its "Irish Person of the Year" honor in 1994. In 1991, Brett received the "John Boyle O'Reilly Award" from the New England chapter of the Irish American Labor Coalition. In 1993, Brett received the "Irishman of the Year" honor from Friends of the Kennedy Library. Irishman of the Year award. In 1994, Brett received a "Man of Year" award from the Boston Police Department Emerald Society.[23]Irish America magazine has named Brett to its "Business 100" in years such as 2005,[4] 2007,[23] 2023,[30] and 2024.[3] In 2018, the Éire Society of Boston presented its Gold Medal award to Brett.[13] He has also received honors from the Charitable Irish Society of Boston, Sligo Association of Boston, and Boston Irish Business Association.[25]
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