Jack O’Connor

Jack O’Connor, O’Connor Studios

Jack O’Connor moved to Lowell in 1965 from upstate New York when he set up a branch office for School Pictures, Inc. He had never been to Lowell but picked it because of its central location to cities and communities with numerous K-12 schools. The city was visibly depressed, but Jack’s entrepreneurial skills enabled him to build a successful business: by the mid-1980s he established his own company, now known as O’Connor Studios.

He and his wife Terry, who grew up in the Little Canada neighborhood of Lowell, soon became actively involved with non-profits in the city, such as the House of Hope, Saints Memorial Medical Center and Ironstone Farm (where Jack worked with Senator Dan Leahy to set up the first board of directors). They were a particularly pivotal force in the city’s arts and culture scene. Jack served as the president of the Merrimack Repertory Theatre in 1992-94 and again from 2001-2003; Terry served as the president of the board of trustees at the Whistler House Museum of Art. She also served as the executrix of the artist Mico Kaufman’s estate. In 2005 they received the city’s esteemed Tsongas Award for their contributions to the cultural life of the city. Jack also received an honorary degree from Middlesex Community College and both Jack and Terry received Chancellor’s Medals from UMass Lowell. Their philanthropy continues to the present—they have recently set up a foundation through the Massachusetts School Administrator’s Association to promote educational excellence and innovation.

The Interview

In the interview, Jack begins with his recollections of the city in the late 1960s and early 70s. A critical turning point for him and Terry, as with so many of the interviewees in this project, was the friendship of Paul Tsongas. In the 1980s, Jack and Terry bought their home at 124 Mansur St. The Tsongas family lived nearby, and Jack recalls how Paul quickly got them involved with the city with a humorous recounting of the neighborhood efforts to beautify Kittredge Park on Andover St. Jack considers their home a civic responsibility and it has opened it regularly for meetings and events connected to the city. A large portion of the interview is dedicated to their relationship with the artist Mico Kaufman who contributed so many of the works of public art in Lowell. Jack not only shares his firsthand memories of Mico, he also discusses the works of art he and Terry own by Mico and provides the stories behind them. Jack struggled with dyslexia his entire life; at the end of the interview, he draws on his own success as an entrepreneur to provide advice for the next generation. Referencing Mico’s statue of Helen Keller, Jack sees in Keller someone who was able to overcome disabilities and leave the world a better place. His and Terry’s hope is that, through civic engagement, we can all leave the world a better place.