Mark Nunan was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1953. At an early age, he moved to Homewood and then Hoover, Alabama. In 1971, he graduated from Indian Springs High School, where he was editor of the school newspaper and literary magazine, member of the Student Judiciary group and played in the soccer team. Mark graduated from the University of Alabama in 1976. He continued his education at Stanford University, where he was awarded a master’s in 1979 and a Ph.D. in 1983. During that same period, he was a George Lurcy Fellow at L’École normale supérieure and at the University of Paris-Sorbonne in Paris as part of his Ph.D. program. He was a member of Pi Kappa Phi academic honor society and participated in medical research in one of the largest blood pressure and cardiovascular disease research studies in the United States.

Mark started his career with COS, Inc. in 1982 in Palo Alto, Calif., and then transferred to Paris and New York City in 1980, where he retired as a senior vice president in 2018. COS is a private firm that provides business and economic development services, assisting companies and governments in researching, developing and implementing new business expansion opportunities, mainly in North America and Europe. Mark and his partner Isabelle live in Darien and have one son and a daughter-in-law and two grandsons living in Europe. He belongs to the Stanford Alumni Association, A-Ulm: Association des Anciens Élèves de L’École normale supérieure, and Phi Kappa Phi. His leisure activities include reading, investing, walking, hiking, travel, music and spectator sports – specifically, soccer and college football.

Following his detailed and informative talk earlier this year on Robert Moses, Mark will be speaking about another major influence in the history of the city of New York, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.

Arranged by Bryan Hooper

Bryan’s summary of the talk:

Mark Nunan described in his meticulous and thoroughly-researched presentation the incredible life and achievements of Fiorello La Guardia. Born in New York City in 1882, La Guardia was a second generation Italian American who was later brought up in Arizona where his father served in the US army. He went back to Trieste with his father in 1898, and worked for the US Consulate in Croatia before returning to New York in 1906, where he became an interpreter at Ellis Island, putting to good use his language skills – he was fluent in German, Italian, Croatian and French. He attended NYU Law School, graduated in 1910, and was admitted to the New York bar the same year.

Following an initial career as a labor lawyer, La Guardia was persuaded to run for Congress and succeeded at the second attempt in 1916. He voted against prohibition, and for the establishment of the military air service. This unbelievably talented man then volunteered to join that service, becoming a major and commanding officer of the American Combat Division in Italy, and followed up by working with the Italians to improve their aircraft manufacturing industry, for which he was recognized and honored by King Victor Emmanuel.

After his time in Italy, La Guardia went for a second act in national politics, becoming a congressman again in 1922, and remaining in Washington until 1933. His major achievements there involved setting up much of the New Deal legislation with the FDR administration, key anti-injunction legislation to provide more even treatment of labor by government, and the successful repeal of prohibition.

His third act involved becoming the 99th mayor of New York. He failed in 1929, but was nominated in preference to Robert Moses as a candidate by the Republicans and the Fusion parties in 1933, and won the election. By the time he took office, his collaboration with FDR’s enablers, Hopkins and Ickes, had snagged for New York 20% of the country’s new jobs created by the Civil Works Administration. La Guardia installed a talented group of commissioners and set about reform projects, including the establishment of the first public housing developments, and pursued the criminal mob with vigor.

One of his popular successes was to win the artichoke war, breaking the mob’s monopoly of the supply and distribution of the vegetable, and enabling retail prices to be slashed by 30 to 40%! He won 72 out of 73 indictments brought against the mob.

Working closely with FDR, he ensured money flowed to support New York infrastructure projects, and developed both La Guardia and Idlewild (now JFK) airports. He won a third term as mayor in 1941, and was also nominated by Roosevelt to head the Office of Civil Defense for the country, splitting his time between New York and Washington.

La Guardia did not run for a fourth term, had a brief stint at the United Nations in 1946 as a director general, and died in 1947. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx (a site that was visited this week by the Happy Wanderers).

Mark’s presentation slides chronicle the innumerable accomplishments of this talented, indefatigable and caring man, and they can be found at https://dariendma.org/wp-content/uploads/FINAL-La-Guardia-DMA-Nunan.pdf, and the videotape of the session can be accessed at https://youtu.be/lcmP27mHZGA