NORTHAMPTON — A new award established in honor of the late Tim Brennan, who led the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) for decades, will recognize local organizations that serve the community while adapting to shifting cultural and economic environments.
With the Tim Brennan Exemplar Award, PVPC and the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts intend to honor Brennan, whose former colleagues say dedicated his adult life to public service, as well as non-profits and businesses that share his values.
After nearly 50 years with PVPC — including almost 40 years as its executive director — Brennan died in March 2020 at age 73, just several months after his retirement.
Brennan was “a behind-the-scenes guy,” said Pat Beaudry, manager of public affairs for PVPC, and “was always seeking to highlight others’ efforts.”
Though Brennan didn’t seek the spotlight himself, Beaudry said that those who knew and worked with him wanted to find a way to properly honor his contributions to the organization and the Pioneer Valley.
“We lost him right at the beginning of COVID,” Beaudry said, “so we didn’t really have the opportunity to properly honor the man’s contributions to the Valley.”
In his work, Brennan focused on issues such as improving public transportation, cleaning the Connecticut River, and other policies to better residents’ lives. Some of his notable impacts were helping establish the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, advocating for east-west transit service, and helping to create Valley BikeShare.
In a statement, Rick Sullivan, president and CEO of the Western Mass EDC, said that Brennan “made the improvement of this Valley and its residents’ quality of life his career’s work — forever seeking to use data and long-term vision to guide the nitty-gritty daily efforts required to make big, positive change.”
The award, Sullivan said, “will recognize leadership in business and the nonprofit sector that mirrors Tim’s dedication to the greater good, regional collaboration and big picture aspirations for the Pioneer Valley.”
The award will be given out annually, and alternate between recognizing organizations from the nonprofit and business sectors as “a good way to highlight the fact that both of those sectors have a role to play,” Beaudry said.
PVPC will name the first honoree, which will be a non-profit organization, in June. Organizations can self-nominate through May 14 at spark.adobe.com/page/Qf8JFGCPqFeTW/.
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.