LYNN — After serving on the Zoning Board of Appeals for more than 50 years, 95-year-old Patrick B. Calnan is calling it a career. 

Calnan’s last meeting was Tuesday, when the City Council and Mayor Jared Nicholson presented him with an official citation honoring his career. Calnan is the longest-serving board member in the city’s history. 

“At a time when we are always seeking to better engage the community in the workings of the city, Pat Calnan stands as an exemplary example of public service,” Nicholson said. “We are grateful for the decades of expertise and passion he brought to his position with the ZBA and we wish nothing but the best.”

When asked what he is going to miss the most, Calnan, who is known as the “detail guy,” said he will miss his fellow board members. 

“It was an honor and a privilege,” Calnan said. “I’ll miss helping the city, I’ll do it some other way.”

His motto has always been to be fair with neighbors, while acting in the best interest of the city.

“You know we try to do that, I mean you just can’t be cut and dry,” he said.  

Calnan’s family and City Hall staff members joined him for the last meeting. Calnan said he has seen the city’s landscape transform tremendously over the years.

Lynn Head Clerk Mary Gokas said Calnan has a huge following of residents who have watched his meetings throughout the years on Lynn Community Television. 

“When I came on for my first time as secretary for ZBA, Pat was the chairman at the time and helped me learn different ways to help the board,” Gokas said. “He also taught me Gaelic Irish words along the way. Also, Pat had an amazing garden when I visited him dropping off his paperwork. Pat would always reach out to new members who came on the board and invite them to go look at properties for ZBA, so they weren’t alone for the first time.”

ZBA Chair Flory Makuwa said Calnan was always willing to visit properties with board members and share his expertise. Makuwa, the board’s first African American chair, said Calnan urged him to pursue the position. 

“As a young man he opened up many doors for me by assisting me,” Makuwa said. “He remembers all cases and was very helpful… he pushed me.”

A lifelong Lynn resident, Calnan was appointed to the board as an associate member in 1974 by Mayor David Phillips. He was named a regular member 11 years ago.

Calnan and his brothers have been staples at City Hall for decades. His youngest brother, Ed, was the city’s first community development director and a city councilor at-large; his brother Frank was the city’s building inspector; and his brother Bill was the deputy director of the Lynn Housing Authority. His brother Jack was an engineer.

Growing up in West Lynn, Calnan was never afraid to work. Between the ages of 14 and 18, he drove a horse-drawn carriage delivering ice to customers on the Commons. He and his brothers later worked as bricklayers and stonemasons, leading Calnan to a career as a masonry contractor. He and his late wife, Kathleen, raised eight children.

Even as he got older, Calnan never slowed down. When the statue at St. Joseph Cemetery was damaged, Calnan, who was in his late 80s at the time, stepped up to repair and reinstall it on his own.

The ZBA, which meets twice a month, hears and votes on requests for variances from the terms of the city’s zoning bylaws, which regulate lot size, setback, frontage, and use. Throughout Calnan’s five decades on the board, it is said that he has heard more than 10,000 cases.