James Mahoney, Newton Resident, Bank of America Exec, Dies At 67

NEWTON, MA — James Mahoney, a senior Bank of America executive and former chief spokesman for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, died following a serious bike crash. He was 67.

The longtime cyclist was in a bike crash last July when he sustained a major head injury. He died Aug. 8 in his Newton home, according to his obituary.

Friends described him as a man who was kind and thoughtful toward others and someone who genuinely wanted to make the world a better place.

"Paramount in each place he worked was to make the world around him a better place," Michael Sullivan who said he interacted with Mahoney at various places throughout the years posted online in response to the news of Mahoney's death. "He touched many lives and made a difference."

Mahoney spent more than two decades at Bank of America, most recently as executive vice president and global corporate strategy and public policy executive.

"Jim Mahoney was the definition of the man in the room where it happens; often quietly and always adeptly merging strategy, policy and news during his 25 years at Bank of America and its predecessor FleetBoston," reads his obituary.

Among his many endeavors, he also worked in politics as a volunteer for the 1980 presidential campaign of Gov. Jerry Brown and as an aide and spokesman for US Rep. Joseph Kennedy II.

Mahoney was born in Newton on September 7, 1952 one of the eight children. He graduated from Xavier High School in Concord in 1970. He then went on to get his bachelors at Colby College in Maine in 1974. In 1979 he earned his masters degree from Harvard University in Public Health Policy, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He had recently become interested in substance use disorder counseling and earned a counseling certification from UMass Boston so he could work with men with addiction at the Suffolk County House of Correction.

"Jim told his family that the evenings he spent with the men at the jail after a long workday at Bank of America gave him perspective and energized him to do even more," reads his obituary.

He leaves behind his wife and three children, three brothers and four sisters, stepsons Luke (Mara), Ryan, and William McLoughlin, stepdaughter Clare Overmann ( Mark). He leaves 17 nieces and nephews and eight grandnieces and nephews. He is also survived by his former wife Patricia Leydon.

Because of the pandemic his funeral service will be for family only, but his funeral Mass will be live streamed at 11 a.m. Wednesday, August, 12 on YouTube. .

Read his full obituary at Brown and Hickey Funeral Home.