Kirk, Paul Grattan, Jr. (1938-…), served as a United States senator from Massachusetts from September 2009 to February 2010. The state’s Governor Deval Patrick named Kirk, a Democrat, to fill the seat vacated by the death of Senator Edward M. (Ted) Kennedy. Prior to Kirk’s Senate appointment, he had served as a lawyer in private practice and as a chairman of a number of nonprofit organizations.
Kirk was born on Jan. 18, 1938, in Newton, Massachusetts. His father, Paul G. Kirk, Sr., served as an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. The younger Kirk earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in 1960 and a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1964.
From 1969 to 1977, Kirk served as an assistant to Senator Kennedy. He later worked as a lawyer at private firms. In 1983, Kirk became treasurer of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). From 1985 to 1989, he served as the DNC’s chairman. In 1987, Kirk helped found the Commission on Presidential Debates. This group sponsors presidential debates and assists in voter education efforts. In 1990, Kirk was named chairman of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
After Ted Kennedy’s death in August 2009, the Massachusetts legislature passed a law allowing the state’s governor to name an interim (temporary) replacement in the Senate. Governor Patrick named Kirk, a long-time friend of the Kennedy family, to the post in September 2009. In a January 2010 special election, Massachusetts voters elected Republican Scott Brown to fill out the remainder of Kennedy’s Senate term, which ended in January 2013.