Remembering Middletown Board of Education Attorney Mal Kenney

The sudden call for “a moment of silence” in the middle of Wednesday’s Middletown Board of Education meeting took some people by surprise.

“Who’s this for?” someone whispered. “Mal Kenney,” another answered. “I didn’t even know he had died.”

He, in fact, died on Feb. 15. But if you followed some of the most heated board business of the millennium you would know that Malachi James Kenney lived, and quite colorfully.

Many people in the board meeting room vividly remembered Kenney in his decade-long role as school board attorney, from 1995 to 2005. Some, like former board member Sherry Gevarter, “can still see him sitting there on the dais (at the former board meeting spot in Middletown High School North’s library),” advancing the board’s bargaining points and tenaciously defending its positions against the representatives and lawyers of the teachers’ union.

Chris Parton was Kenney’s personal friend, law partner and successor as board attorney.

“Mal Kenney saw the district through some very peaceful times and some other times that no one in the world would describe as peaceful,” said Parton, “including the infamous1998 and 2001 teacher strikes in Middletown.” Kenney was a headlining name then, especially during the national newsmaker of the 2001 strike, when more than 200 teachers and schools staff members were jailed for refusing to go back to work without a contract.

“He was a polarizing figure, at times,” Parton conceded. “Certainly, the MTEA [Middletown Township Education Association union] and he had their differences, professional and otherwise. But that was his job, and he always did his job to the best of his ability.”

Current board member Joan Minnuies concurred, a warm smile enveloping her face as she nodded and recalled her board colleague back in his tumultuous heyday.

“I remember Malachi as a nice guy,” said Minnuies, “kind-hearted and personable. We went through a lot of contentious times when he was here, and I don’t want to rehash that. You either liked him or you didn’t like him. But he was certainly nice to me.”

Admiring Kenney’s professionalism, Minnuies called him a “very knowledgeable,” professional who was “very dedicated to his job.”

Gevarter shared that assessment, despite the “many times” that she found herself at odds with Kenney.

“I know there were a lot of ‘issues’ in the district when he was here,” Gevarter recalled, “and there were a lot of hard feelings, to some extent. But Mal did the job that he was hired to do, and I think he did it to the best of his ability. He gave every board member the respect that they were due as a board member.”

“I always respected his intelligence and his sense of humor,” Gevarter added. “He worked for many different boards in Middletown, and I felt that—whatever board he was working for—he served them fairly and honestly.”

“He was a true believer in the management side in labor negotiations,” said Parton, “although he also made good and lifelong friends on the other side of the table.”

Parton grinned as his mind grabbed a snapshot of his curmudgeonly friend and colleague who had the unique power of standing his controversial ground as a professional while transforming many enemies into friends who became “big fans of Malachi’s, ultimately.” Many of those staunch adversaries, Parton noted, attended his funeral.

“It’s a unique person who’s able to cultivate that kind of relationship,” said Parton, “while screaming at people and having them scream back at him.”

Friends will tell you that Kenney took his role as a fierce negotiator and advocate for his clients very seriously. But while he was fully immersed in that professional part and arguments often got heated, they never took on a personal tone.

“He knew he was playing a role,” Parton reminisced. “And he believed in the role he was playing. But there is a time when that (performance) hat comes off, and we have colleagues on both sides of the table. That’s an important part of any role you play, professionally; and, Malachi was a true believer in that.”

Mal Kenney was born in New York, the eldest of four children. Raised in Alabama, he earned his bachelor’s degree at Notre Dame and studied law at Rutgers. He spent the last 35 years of his life residing and practicing law in Red Bank.

Kenney died on Feb. 15, at age 66, in surgery after a fall. Parton and anyone you talk to who knew him, said it was no secret that that Kenney’s lifestyle choices bore at least some of the blame for his not surviving a routine surgery.

“I would see him every morning,” said Parton, “with a diet soda in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Chronologically, he was 66, but medically, he was about 95. But, hey, he lived a good, memorable life and will be missed.” Meeting adjourned.