Robert Mahoney, Michigan's first blind state lawmaker, dies at 95

Robert D. Mahoney, who was Michigan's first blind lawmaker and who raised 10 children with his wife, Jennie, who is also blind, died on Thursday at age 95.

Mahoney, who attended Northern High School in Detroit and the Michigan School for the Blind, lost his eyesight at the age of 15 and worked as a door-to-door salesman before he was first elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 1954, representing northeast Detroit for 18 years. He and his wife, who survives him at age 97, later moved to East Lansing.

Mahoney wrote an autobiography, "Living Out of Sight," which he self-published in 1995.

"He was remarkable in the sense that he never gave up on anything," said Joe Mahoney, one of Mahoney's eight surviving children, who is a senior consultant for the Michigan Catholic Conference in Lansing.

"He couldn't look us in the eye and see us, so he saw us with his heart."

Born in Duluth, Minn., in 1921, Mahoney, a devout Catholic, married Jennie Kubinger in 1941. He leaves 22 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

"He was a brave man," said Fred Wurtzel, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind in Michigan who knew Mahoney for many years. "He was just an amazing guy."

Wurtzel said there were few employment opportunities for blind people in the 1940s and 1950s, and, like many others, Mahoney sold brooms and other items door-to-door. He was prompted to run for the Legislature when he tried to get out of that line of work to participate in a state employment program for blind people, but was told he was ineligible because of a heart murmur, Wurtzel said

"He said if it hadn't been for them telling me I was physically unfit, I would have never got into the Legislature," Wurtzel said.

In 1956, the Mahoneys established a mail-order business, Michigan Notary Service, which Jennie Mahoney ran from their home. Joe Mahoney said his dad became one of the largest notary bondsmen in the state and the business remains in the family today.

Mahoney also worked for the Wayne County Register of Deeds and after his time in the Legislature served on the Wayne County Commission and lobbied for the Michigan Hospital Association.

"You're given one life, and you've got to do the very best you can with it," Mahoney was quoted as saying in a 1997 article in The Michigan Catholic.

"Half the joy in life is making some success out of it."

According to that article, Robert Mahoney was blind in one eye from birth and lost his sight in the other eye because of a detached retina suffered in a skiing accident when he was in the 11th Grade. His wife lost part of her sight following a high fever when she was 3, and lost the remainder of her sight when she was 11. The two met at the Michigan School for the Blind.

According to The Michigan Catholic, Mahoney introduced the bill that requires hunter safety classes for young people and first proved that anyone could buy a hunting license by obtaining one for himself.

According to his death notice, Mahoney also sponsored a bill to provide state identification for blind people who did not have a driver's license.

Bill Ballenger, publisher of The Ballenger Report, served as a Republican in the Legislature during Mahoney's tenure.

"It's absolutely an incredible story," said Ballenger, who recalls Mahoney navigating the Capitol with a white cane, sometimes assisted by other Democratic members.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepess.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.