Linda Dorcena Forry
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| Member of the Massachusetts Senate from the 1st Suffolk district | |
| In office June 14, 2013 - January 25, 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Jack Hart |
| Succeeded by | Nick Collins |
| Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 12th Suffolk district | |
| In office 2005 - June 14, 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Tom Finneran |
| Succeeded by | Dan Cullinane |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1973 (age 50–51) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Bill Forry |
| Residence(s) | Dorchester, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Boston College |
| Profession | Business management |
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Linda Dorcena Forry (born 1973) is a former Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate, who represented the 1st Suffolk district from June 2013 - January 2018. She previously represented the 12th Suffolk District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives after winning a special election in April 2005. Haitian-American, Dorcena Forry, is the former House Chair of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business.
Dorcena Forry was born and raised in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. She attended St. Kevin Grammar School and Monsignor Ryan Memorial High School in Dorchester and then Boston College.[1] In 1997, she graduated from Boston College's Carroll School of Management in 1997. In 2014, she received a master's degree in public administration from Harvard Kennedy SchoolatHarvard University.[2]
After graduating from Boston College, Dorcena Forry was a legislative assistant, working for then-State Representative Charlotte Golar Richie (Fifth Suffolk District serving Roxbury and Dorchester).[1] When she left the State House in 1999 to work for the executive staff at the City of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development, she had risen to the position of Acting Chief of Staff.[citation needed]
From 2005 to 2013, Dorcena Forry represented the Commonwealth's 12th Suffolk House district, a cross-section that includes parts of the town of Milton and the city of Boston, including Dorchester, Hyde Park and Mattapan.[2] In 2009, Forry served as Chair of the Black and Latino Caucus. That same year, she was appointed Chairman of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses.[2]
Dorcena Forry won the Democratic nomination in the April 2013 special primary election to succeed state Senator Jack Hart[3] in the First Suffolk Senate district, defeating Rep. Nick Collins. She defeated Republican Joseph A. Ureneck in the final election on May 28 and was sworn in on June 14, 2013.[4][5] She stepped down on January 25, 2018, to become a vice president at Suffolk Construction.[6]
Dorcena Forry is married to Bill Forry, editor and publisher of the Dorchester Reporter.[7][8] The couple live in Lower Mills, Dorchester and have four children: John, Conor, Madeline and Norah.[2] Three of her children were born during her tenure in the House of Representatives.[2]
