State Rep. Peter V. Kocot spent his 40-year career in public service among the state’s most powerful politicians at the Statehouse in Boston, where he was a champion of civil rights and clean government.
In his hometown of Northampton, he will be remembered just as much for the tireless attention he gave to the everyday concerns of his constituents. Kocot died Thursday at age 61 after a brief illness.
Congressman James McGovern, a fellow Democrat from Worcester, described Kocot as “a great public servant with a big heart. He fought hard for what he believed in, and always listened carefully to the communities that sent him to Beacon Hill.
“Massachusetts is a better place because of his thoughtful, principled leadership on issues like voter registration and public records reform. And he was an unwavering voice for the most vulnerable in our communities. To Peter, everyone was important and no one was invisible.”
After graduating in 1978 from Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in political science, Kocot held two jobs for the rest of his life: legislative aide and legislator representing the 1st Hampshire District. He was hired by then-state Rep. William P. Nagle Jr., of Northampton, and served as his chief of staff for more than 20 years.
Nagle, who had risen to House majority leader, stepped down in 2001 to become clerk magistrate of Ware District Court. Kocot then continued his daily commute to the Statehouse to take care of issues for constituents in the district, which was without a representative for 10 months because a special election was delayed.
When the election was finally scheduled, Kocot announced his candidacy in January 2002 at the Hampshire Heights housing project where he and Nagle both grew up. “I picked Hampshire Heights because I wanted to stress the fact that I won’t forget my roots if I’m elected a state representative and am working in Boston every day,” Kocot said at the time.
He easily defeated George Quinn in the Democratic primary and then Green Party candidate Michael Aleo in the final election. Kocot was never seriously challenged as he was re-elected eight times to the House.
Kocot, a staunch supporter of gay rights, was particularly proud of a moment early in his legislative career when he voted for same-sex marriage at the state’s Constitutional Convention in 2004.
He gained statewide acclaim in 2009 when, as chairman of the House Ethics Committee, he helped shape and steer through the Legislature a major reform of the state’s ethics laws, many of which had not changed since the 1960s.
The reforms, Kocot told his colleagues, would “get the people that make us look bad.”
More recently, Kocot worked for four years on the first significant reform of the public records law since it was adopted in 1973. He co-chaired the conference committee that crafted legislation signed by Gov. Charlie Baker in 2016 that is tailored to today’s electronic record-keeping with more uniform and stricter standards for state agencies and municipalities.
Kocot was recognized by the Massachusets Newspaper Publishers Association with its first Open Government Award in 2016.
At 6-foot-7, Kocot was known by some as the “gentle giant,” and his colleague, Rep. John Scibak, of South Hadley, said he was a like a huge teddy bear who “would make you comfortable right from the start.”
A modest man who did not seek the limelight, Kocot cherished time with his family — his four siblings, wife Shauneen and sons Jake and Luke — tending his tomatoes, beach vacations and fishing for striped bass.
His extended family was the constituents of his district — which also includes Hatfield, Southampton, Westhampton and Montgomery — and he was attentive to their problems. As one resident of Westhampton Road in Northampton said years ago after Kocot helped her understand why the state was taking some of her family’s property by eminent domain for highway improvements, he “exudes brilliance when you talk to him. He’s warm, very kind and approachable.”
On April 17, 2002, the day that Kocot was sworn in as state representative, he said, “I’m going to hit the ground running, and I’m going to work very hard for the people of the 1st Hampshire District.” He didn’t stop until the day he died.