George Keverian was born in Everett, Massachusetts, located in Middlesex County, near Boston. Keverian was the son of Armenian parents who immigrated to America from Turkey before 1915. His mother was a dressmaker and his father ran a shoe repair business.
Keverian attended Tufts College for two years before transferring to Harvard College. Keverian graduated from Harvard in 1953.
In his role in the legislature, he was an advocate for greater openness in leadership, free speech and government reform. He sent an individualized flier to each house with a photo of their own home and a message about the attention he would offer the neighborhood. He served on the Common Council until 1961, serving as President of the Common Council from 1960 to 1961.
In 1966, Keverian was elected to represent the 20th Middlesex District in the From 1975 to 1978 Keverian was the House Majority Whip, the number three leadership position in the In 1978 Keverian was chosen to be the House Majority Leader, the number two leadership position in the
Though he was able to bring greater openness, he had difficulties as a leader and in pushing through legislation.
He left the post, and state politics, in 1991, after losing the Democratic party primary for Massachusetts State Treasurer. He returned to Everett, where he was appointed as the city"s chief assessor in 1995.
He lost the position in 2007, with Keverian claiming that he had lost the post due to conflicts with the city"s mayor. The mayor stated that the position had been eliminated.
Weighing as much as 400 pounds by 2002, Keverian blamed his place in the public eye for his weight problems, telling a 2003 forum on obesity at the Harvard School of Public Health that "People can be very, very cruel, even when they"re not trying to be" and that "Having all that publicity and public acceptance worked against me".
He was able to bring his weight down to 260 pounds following gastric bypass surgery in 2002. The George Keverian School in Everett, Massachusetts is named after him. Keverian had been scheduled to read a Doctor Seuss book to first-graders at the school on the day of his death.
Keverian died at age 77, on March 6, 2009.
He was buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Everett, Massachusetts.
