Marvin Gilmore, the centenarian

Friends, family gather to celebrate milestone birthday

On September 21, Marvin E. Gilmore Jr. marked his 100th birthday during a surprise celebration given by his family. The event was attended by Gilmore’s family, friends and colleagues to celebrate the World War II veteran and Boston legend.

“This event, which took place two days before his actual birthday, was actually called a ‘Turning 100 Centenarian Celebration’ because it was very clear that we can celebrate someone who is turning 100, and it puts a movement [in] perspective,” said Marque Gilmore, Gilmore’s son.

“One of the efforts was to touch base with people who we haven’t seen, or touched base with, in a long time. So, one thing that ended up happening was we had family members who were meeting for the first time,” said Marque, adding that the celebration ended up being a multigenerational family reunion of sorts.

“That, to me, was one of the most amazing things that happened, this unprecedented gathering of family members. It was like a family pre-union. You know how families do family reunions for people to meet … once a year? This was people meeting for the first time, almost more than any other family reunion that’s happened previously,” he said.

Along with family, notable Bostonians attended the celebration at the conservatory’s Jordan Hall to pay homage to Gilmore.

“Then you had proclamations from the Massachusetts governor and a proclamation from the mayor of Boston creating a Marvin E. Gilmore Jr. Day on his birthday, an official declaration from the state and the city, that was pretty cool,” Marque said.

Renaissance man

Having had an extraordinary career over the past century, Marvin Gilmore encompasses the true essence of a Renaissance man. Gilmore fought the Nazis in World War II and is one of the few remaining men who stormed the beaches of Normandy.

Marvin E. Gilmore Jr poses in front of the Embrace statue on Boston Common. PHOTO: BENJAMIN CHEUNG PHOTOGRAPHY

Born in 1924, Gilmore remains part of an exclusive group of World War II veterans who are still alive, with less than 1% of the over 16 million veterans who served. 

After returning to Massachusetts, Gilmore became a key founder of Unity Bank and Trust Company in Roxbury, the first black-owned commercial bank in the Commonwealth.

Because of his eclectic assembly of skills, Gilmore’s portfolio is not limited to founding Unity Bank and Trust, but also includes ownership of his nightclub, The Western Front in Cambridge, which was operational from 1968 until 2013, as well as his position as founder and CEO of the Community Development Corporation of Boston, a position he held for over four decades.

“[The history of] my life goes on and on,” Gilmore said during a brief phone call talking about his legacy, “but the legacy is having been able to create jobs. I’ve worked to create jobs and businesses for minorities.”

Gilmore also mentioned his nightclub, The Western Front, and his founding of Unity Bank and Trust Company as other legacies that he can hang his hat on as he remembers the first century of his life.

Marque and David Gilmore are brothers and professional musicians who have had the distinct privilege of growing up as sons of Marvin Gilmore, one of Boston’s most respected businessmen.

The larger-than-life elder Gilmore, not only throughout Black Boston but also throughout the city’s music and business scenes, is just Dad to Marque and David, who, when asked what comes to the mind when asked about their father, were quick to jovially reply, “You didn’t have to grow up with him!”

Explaining the meaning behind their response, both brothers acknowledged that because Gilmore made sacrifices to accomplish what he did, the goals he reached were inevitable. Both can agree that their father’s work ethic is something that has been unrelenting throughout their lives and, presumably, throughout his as well.

“He was still our father growing up,” said Marque. “It was still, ‘take out the trash’ and ‘why don’t you help your mother,’ even if we were jamming in the basement or doing other things, so we got all of that. But still knowing, yes, he helped to start the first African American bank in New England.”

“He has a pretty relentless work ethic, for better or for worse, that has been instilled in us. He comes from a generation where the male role, so to speak, is to be the provider. And he did that very effectively,” said his oldest son, David. “Having that mentality as a Black person, to own your own real estate, to actually have money in the bank, these things for a lot of Black people today is not taught and it’s not in their immediate environment — financial responsibility, saving money. He didn’t really talk to us about it, but he just did it.”

While music seems to be the common denominator between the boys and their father, Gilmore did not encourage his sons to join the music industry as they grew into adults. While his role in the music industry was prodigious, his struggle as a Black man in the music industry and the trials that allowed him to cultivate his success was something that he never wanted his sons to experience.

Both men trace their love of music to birth. From growing up in Cambridge, admiring their parents’ impeccable record collections and banging on drum sets in the house, to cleaning up after Reggae Night at their father’s nightclub, the pair’s love of music could be described as accidentally hereditary.

“Even though he didn’t necessarily encourage us to be musicians because it’s a hard world out there, I think he knew in the back of his mind, ‘Oops, my record collection was too good,’” Marque joked. “[He] had a nightclub with some of the greatest musicians Boston has ever had around, [we’ve] seen it, [we’ve] felt it, [we’ve] cleaned up after it, what choice do [we] have.”

“We caught the music bug early in life,” said David. “Listening to their vast record collection of Jazz, Funk, R&B, [and] everything in between, and I started banging on pots and pans and that led to drums. Then I gravitated towards the guitar when I was about fifteen years old,” shared Gilmore’s oldest son. “Music is our life.”