.- Ray Flynn, former Boston mayor and former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, was hospitalized Wednesday night after collapsing at a “Theology on Tap” speaking engagement at a Quincy, Massachusetts tavern.
Family members told the Boston Herald that Flynn was undergoing tests to determine what had happened.
Flynn’s son Ed Flynn said the former mayor was to speak about “morality and politics” as part of the Theology on Tap Catholic outreach program.
“He was talking about being the last guy cut from the Boston Celtics [team stats] by Red Auerbach,” Flynn’s son told the Boston Herald. “Even though you don’t succeed at one event in your life, you need to move on and work harder and (be) more determined. He didn’t get to finish the story . . . He got weak and he fainted.”
Ed Flynn said his father was conscious and alert when he was taken into the ambulance. He reportedly has been suffering a recurrence of melanoma in recent months.
Ray Flynn served as a state representative for South Boston in the late 1970s and was mayor of Boston from 1984 to 1993. He was appointed as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican by President Bill Clinton.
