Molin has had many roles in Newburyport community

By JANET DEPASQUALE
Essex County Newspapers

Molin's resume stretches for days, and includes stints as a businessman, former mayor, city councilor, School Committee member and one of the city's greatest philanthropists.

"There hasn't been too much in the city I haven't become involved in, but that makes life interesting," he said. "My life could never be called dull."

The 79-year-old moved his tool-manufacturing business, Berkshire Manufacturing Products, from Peabody to the Newburyport industrial park in 1972.

In the following years, he met one person after another who shaped his interest in business as well as city government.

"I haven't had to look for something to do for what seems like my whole life," Molin said.

Molin's business career began after he graduated from Leavenworth Technical High School in his native Waterbury, Conn., in 1937. He began a machine tool designer apprenticeship for 35 cents an hour at a watch company, then Waterbury Clock and now Timex.

During World War II, he enlisted in the Marines. He was stationed in the Pacific on a pioneer battalion, and still remembers his serial number _ 987585.

After the war, he moved among related jobs, often transplanting his family to new areas. He made timing devices in Chicago, and then worked for Connecticut Telephone and Electric.

"When it became routine, I learned a new job," he said.

Molin bought Berkshire Products in 1958 and ran it for 40 years before selling it a couple of years ago. He and his family moved to Newburyport in 1972, when he moved the company.

By that time, he was embedded in leadership roles in the renovation and expansion projects of the Newburyport Public Library and Newburyport High School.

"I came here to run a business and grow a business, and I found myself drawn to it (getting involved)," Molin said.

A self-proclaimed "carpet-bagger," Molin said he encountered opposition from some Newburyport natives when he arrived. During his early days as a city councilor in 1979 to his years as mayor from 1988-89, Molin said he forged new ground in a lot of areas.

"I was the first mayor of Newburyport who wasn't born here. I broke the barriers," Molin said.

"I became so involved that I'd go home (after a day's work) and have dinner and then come back for one meeting or another," he said.

Molin's life has had hardships as well. In July 1973, his brother and sister-in-law were killed in a Delta flight that attempted a landing at Logan Airport, leaving three children behind. Molin took over his brother's woodworking business in Hillsboro, N.H., while continuing to run his own plant.

"After four years, I sold the business to give the kids a base," Molin said. "It added to my diversity and experiences, and confidence."

Over the years, he founded several local programs and headed many organizations.

In 1985, he founded Transitional Housing for Women and Children in Amesbury. He later formed Housing Support, which now encompasses eight facilities in Amesbury, Haverhill and Lawrence to provide non-profit housing for the homeless.

He has served as chairman of the Newburyport Red Cross and as a director of several businesses. He has been president of the local chapter of the Cancer Society, and is the current president of Maudslay Arts Center and the Friends of the Library.

He institutionalized many local services and events in Newburyport, such as yearly school spelling bees, the annual Teacher's Excellence Awards and bringing the Spirit of Massachusetts to Newburyport

Molin speaks of his accomplishments with an air of ease.

"If I belong to an organization, I want to be active and involved, and I like to run things. It's a natural thing for me."

His most recent achievement came with a successful fund-raising campaign for the Friends of the Library. After the voters approved a debt override in the November 1997 election, Molin pledged that the Friends of the Library would raise $1 million toward the total $6.8 million project. Last spring, the Friends of the Library hit that $1 million mark in donations.

"He's an amazing man. He can make anything go. He cares tremendously about making things work," said Schools Supt. Kathleen Smith. "He's a practiced man who's done everything, so he's a good man to seek advice from."

Smith said Molin has a great effect on getting others involved as well.

"He knows how to get people to sign on in manageable places, to lend their expertise and to make things happen," Smith said.

After all the years of lobbying for the library, Molin acknowledged that his wife, Helen, is the avid reader in the family.

"I am not a reader. My mind moves so fast that I have trouble sitting still to get past the second chapter," Molin said.

But that quick mind fits with his personality _ someone who hates long meetings and wants to get things done.

He has served a one-year term with the Newburyport School Committee, and currently serves on the Whittier Technical School Committee. Recently, Molin decided not to seek another School Committee term in Newburyport.

"This is the first year I won't be in public office since 1979," he said.

He said, however, that his absence as a board member will allow him more time to concentrate on the high school project renovation campaign.

"I feel that with what I do, I can serve a purpose without having to be on the School Committee," Molin said. "It will mean very little other than some meetings I won't have to go to."

He will remain as the chairman of the high school building conditions committee as well as the Whittier School Committee.

And he will continue what he's done best over the years _ stay involved.

"People will say `why don't you retire?'... I don't intend to retire. When I stop, I'm going to be still for a long time, so I'll keep going as long as I can," he said.