During the last four decades, Dennis Kennedy has helped improve
and protect the quality of life in the South Valley region. The
community thanked the former Morgan Hill mayor for his dedicated
service with a special tribute Sunday night.
Morgan Hill – During the last four decades, Dennis Kennedy has helped improve and protect the quality of life in the South Valley region. The community thanked the former Morgan Hill mayor for his dedicated service with a special tribute Sunday night.
The non-profit Leadership Morgan Hill group presented the 69-year-old Kennedy with its Leadership Excellence Award to highlight his many years of working for the city’s benefit. At the event, held in the garden at Guglielmo Winery, Mayor Steve Tate told an audience of more than 100 guests how Kennedy’s passion for community service was vital in the city’s developing many of its recent civic projects. These include the community center, the aquatics center, two recreation centers, the recently opened library and the renovation of Depot Street and Butterfield Boulevard.
“Those things all came out of Dennis Kennedy’s leadership, and we owe Dennis so much for the heritage that he left us as our leader,” he said.
To serve the greater good, Kennedy also showed strong political backbone on many occasions, Tate said. One of the most notable was standing up against political opposition for a cement wall divider to safeguard against head-on crashes when U.S. 101 was constructed in the 1980s.
“One of the things he’s most proud of, and I’m very proud of him for it, is his determination and his resolve and his influence that has regionally benefited Morgan Hill,” he said.
The mayor’s recollection of Kennedy’s overcoming obstacles against the safety barrier received a hearty round of applause from the audience.
Other friends and family members also acknowledged Kennedy’s positive influence on their lives and the city. The audience laughed heartily when Matt Kennedy, the former mayor’s son, joked that Kennedy was “the best dad I ever had.”
Matt learned many important life lessons from his father about how service to other people makes one’s own life more meaningful, he later said in a conversation. “My dad’s my hero,” he said. “My dad has been my touchstone, you can say … He definitely cares about people before anything else, and he’s taught me the same way.”
Lisa Lewis, who served as Kennedy’s office assistant for eight years, recalls that she was “scared to death” when she first went to work for him when he was the mayor. She felt a bit intimidated by Kennedy’s high office in the city, she recalled, but he quickly put her at ease and took time to help her learn how to get through the bureaucratic maze and understand the countless acronyms found in government verbiage.
“I think the world of him,” Lewis said. “He does not have his own agenda. He sees where the need is and brings people together to reach a consensus on items. He never bullied his way into anything. He takes everybody’s feelings into account in making his decisions.”
Swanee Edwards, who served as Kennedy’s campaign manager in 2004, considers him to be a good friend and a political mentor.
“He is the person who got me started in politics,” she said. “He’s honest and he cares very, very deeply about Morgan Hill.”
Edwards described how important it was for Kennedy to always run a “sanitary” campaign. On two occasions, she recalled, he received campaign donation checks from individuals that Kennedy decided to return. Although the individuals weren’t bad people, he did not want to risk the possibility of appearing to show special treatment to them in his political decisions.
During these situations, Kennedy would close his office door and probably go into prayer, Edwards said. The man’s spiritual faith and moral values are important components of both his private and public life, she said.
Although the Leadership Excellence Award is a true honor for him personally, Kennedy said, he sees it more as a public recognition of what Morgan Hill as a community has achieve in the last 10 years. “I feel that I happened to be in the right place at the right time,” he said. “So many people contributed to what’s been accomplished in Morgan Hill. I’m getting a lot of credit for their hard work, but it’s really a lot of people’s efforts that came together.”
During his time on the city council, he stressed the importance of Morgan Hill’s political involvement with the larger region for the benefit of the city’s residents, he said. “It was important for me that Morgan Hill be a part of the broader picture of Santa Clara County and even the state,” he said. “It was just automatic that if there was something that’s going on in Santa Clara County, Morgan Hill needs to be a part of it.”
Besides serving on the city council, Kennedy has also served in the past as a chairman of the South County Regional Wastewater Authority and also as president of the Santa Clara Cities Association. Deciding not to run for re-election for the mayor seat in 2006, he remains active in regional politics by serving in the second of his two-year term on the Valley Transportation Authority board.
He is also actively involved in various non-profit groups such as serving as the vice-chair of the Morgan Hill Sister City Committee, an organization which he proudly believes has helped the city “build bridges” between Morgan Hill and international cities. He also serves on the Silicon Valley Land Conservancy to help protect open space and agricultural land in the region. And he was recently appointed to the board of Morgan Hill’s Downtown Association.
Deciding not to run for re-election for the mayor seat in 2006, he remains active in regional politics by serving in the second of his two-year term on the Valley Transportation Authority board.
He is also actively involved in various non-profit groups such as serving as the vice-chair of the Morgan Hill Sister City Committee, an organization which he proudly believes has helped the city “build bridges” between Morgan Hill and international cities. He also serves on the Silicon Valley Land Conservancy to help protect open space and agricultural land in the region. And he was recently appointed to the board of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association.
A few years ago, Kennedy retired from IBM after working as an engineer in its San Jose site for 25 years. He is now employed as a project manager for the Parson’s Corporation, a developer based in Southern California which has constructed many Silicon Valley high-tech facilities. During his leisure hours, he enjoys water and snow skiing, golf, volleyball and other outdoor sports.
Kennedy was born in Omaha, Neb. and moved to San Jose during his teenage years. After attending Bellarmine College Preparatory, he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Santa Clara University. He soon after served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army for more than two years to fulfill his commitment as a reserve officer.
Kennedy moved to Morgan Hill in 1976 and found his way into local politics the following year. He served three terms on the city’s Planning Commission, and two term on the General Plan Update Committee. In 1990, he was elected to the City Council. In 1992, he was appointed mayor. In 1996, he became Morgan Hill’s first mayor directly elected by the voters. His popularity as a leader helped him get re-elected in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004. He chose not to run in 2006 to devote more time to his consulting work and family.
