Like many of the scores of people he helped prepare for retirement, Harold Crowley was eligible for a full retirement from public education service. But long after he left classroom teaching, and his position as a leader of the Quincy Education Association, Crowley continued to work as a staff member for the MTA, specializing in retirement consultations.
There wasn’t much he didn’t know about the intricacies of public retirement benefits. And what he didn’t know, he learned. He was constantly engaged in professional development to better his understanding of any changes that would affect MTA members, said his colleagues, Peter Mili and Ray Thompson.
Crowley, 87, of Quincy, died on Jan. 28, 2024. Raised in Quincy, Crowley graduated from Northeastern University and began his teaching career while a senior in college. After serving on active duty in the U.S. Army, he started working as a teacher in Quincy Public Schools. He taught for 34 years, at Quincy Elementary School, Snug Harbor School and Broad Meadows Middle School, before retiring in 1994.
He served as president of the Quincy Education Association from 1972 to 1973.
In 1994, he began his second career as a retirement consultant for the MTA, where he remained for 29 years. In that position, many MTA members came to know Crowley as the source for all things retirement.
“He was a legend,” a retirement consultant that people referred to by first name only, Mili said. When Mili was approaching his own teaching retirement, many people said to him: “You’ve got to go see Harold.”
Because Massachusetts has so many retirement systems – more than 100 between all the cities and towns and the state system – educators preparing for their retirement may contact the retirement consultants with any number of questions. Crowley had a reputation for making the complex simple, and for advocating for MTA members.
Friendly and outgoing, his interests were expansive and included volunteering with the Boy Scouts and with several Quincy city committees. He loved to travel. Every year he traveled to Newfoundland, in the Canadian maritime provinces, to visit with longtime family friends.
He was an avid follower of the theater and live performance. His last show was a favorite – catching the annual production of “A Christmas Carol” at Trinity Repertory Theater in Providence, Rhode Island, said his niece, Colleen Tavekelian.
Thompson, who first met Crowley when he went to his school to conduct a retirement workshop, described him as a teacher, first and foremost. He viewed retirement consulting as a form of teaching, helping educators make the most of their earnings. For many people, talking about personal finances, good or bad, is difficult. Crowley had a way of putting people at ease, Thompson said.
“He was, to most of us, kind of the face of the MTA,” Thompson said. “He was just generally known as being so knowledgeable and so approachable. He put people at ease immediately.”
Unfortunately, there’s a lot of talk in school buildings, in educator lounges, that just isn’t accurate, said Mili. Retirement consultations, offered free of charge to MTA members, provide accurate and reliable information.
Tavekelian and Thompson both said they weren’t surprised Crowley continued to work into his late 80s. Even through the pandemic, he continued to work in his Quincy office.
“He needed to be active,” Thompson said. “He needed to have contact with people.”
For information on setting retirement consultations, visit https://massteacher.org/mta-membership/retirement-planning.
To read the obituary for Harold Crowley published in January, please visit: https://keohane.com/services/harold-s-crowley-jr/.
