John Aylmer, Former State Senator and Cape League Pioneer, Dead at 84

CENTERVILLE – A man who represented Cape Cod and the Islands in the State Senate for 6 consecutive terms and served as president of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy has died.

John “Jack” Aylmer was 84.

He died on July 8 at his home in Centerville.

Aylmer was elected to his first of two terms as selectman in Barnstable in 1966.

According to his obituary, he graduated from Bridgewater State College in 1969 with a Master’s degree in Education.

In 1970, he was elected to his first of six consecutive terms in the Massachusetts Senate, representing 36 towns which at the time comprised the District of Cape Cod, the Islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket and Plymouth County.

He spent the next 10 years as state senator and was appointed as Assistant Senate Minority Leader and served on the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Aylmer attended evening classes at Suffolk Law School and earned a Juris Doctorate in 1977.

During his tenure in the Massachusetts Senate, he authored a bill that resulted in the Old King’s Highway Historic District Act.

He also sponsored the bill that established Ocean Marine Sanctuaries in Cape Cod Bay, Nantucket and Vineyard Sounds and Buzzards Bay under the Massachusetts Ocean Sanctuary Act.

In 1981, Jack was appointed as Rear Admiral, U.S. Maritime Service and the President of his alma mater, the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and served in that capacity for 10 years.

Upon his he served as a director on various bank boards and continued his support of many charitable organizations.

He also worked tirelessly in supporting his passion of summer college baseball on Cape Cod. He played for the Barnstable Barons in the Cape Cod Baseball League in 1952 and he was a founder of the Hyannis and Bourne teams in 1976 and 1988 respectively.

In 2012, he was named to the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame as an Administrator.

Alymer is predeceased by his son Kerry and is survived by his wife of 61 years, Ann M. (McLean) Aylmer; and his three other sons, John, Jr. and wife, Karen, of Duxbury, MA., and three grandchildren, Brittany, Ashley and Andrew; son, Peter and wife, Beverlee, and two grandchildren, Ryan and Matthew of Falmouth, MA.; and son, Patrick and wife, Elizabeth, and two grandchildren, John and Patrick, Jr. of Topsfield, MA. Jack is predeceased by his parents; and siblings, Myles Aylmer, Patricia Packer, and Ruth Appleton.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated on July 13, 2018 at 11:30 a.m. at the Our Lady of Victory Church, Centerville.  Burial will be private.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Alzheimer’s Services of Cape Cod & Islands, 765 Attucks Lane, Hyannis, MA. 02601.

 

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