Flynn resting comfortably after collapse

September 18, 2008 01:47 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

Former Boston mayor Raymond L. Flynn is alert and resting comfortably today at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, where he is listed in fair condition and undergoing tests after collapsing during a speech Wednesday night.

Raymond L. Flynn

Edward Flynn said doctors have not decided whether to keep his father in the hospital for another night or release him later today.

"We're not sure yet," Edward Flynn said.

Family members have been visiting with the former mayor and onetime ambassador to the Vatican and he appears in good spirits, talking about politics and sports.

"He's feeling much better today," his son said.

Raymond Flynn, 69, was giving a speech at Bad Abbots pub in Quincy last night as part of the "Theology on Tap" series, a religious program that has speakers discuss theology in a bar setting, when he collapsed at about 7:30, said bar owner Peter Kerr. The bar was crowded, with about 120 people, and the room was hot, Kerr said. Flynn was about 35 minutes into his speech when he passed out.

The younger Flynn said his father has been under intense stress lately. He is grieving the loss of his brother, Dennis, who died last month of a heart attack at age 61. On Monday, the former mayor attended a Mass for his brother marking a month since his death.

Flynn has also been battling recurring melanoma, a form of skin cancer, his son said. He said that his father suffered from the disease while he was mayor more than a decade ago and that he has been experiencing symptoms recently. His son said yesterday that the case is not serious but that it may have combined with other stresses to lead to his father's collapse.

Flynn's son said the skin cancer is on his hands, ears, and the side of his face. His father has long attributed the disease, his son said, to his days in the sun playing sports in South Boston, where he was a basketball star.

A Democrat born and raised in South Boston, he was elected to the City Council in 1978 and served for six years before becoming mayor in 1984.

He held that post until President Clinton appointed him ambassador to the Vatican in 1993, a post he held until 1997.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.