Martin Joseph Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician and former union official. He has been the 29th United States Secretary of Labor since March 23, 2021. A Democrat, he previously served as the 54th mayor of Boston from 2014, until resigning in 2021 after being confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as secretary of labor in the Cabinet of President Joe Biden. Before his mayoralty, he served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, representing the thirteenth Suffolk district from 1997 until 2014.
Walsh was born in Dorchester, Boston, to John Walsh, an Irish American originally from Callowfeenish, a townland near Carna, County Galway, and Mary (née O'Malley), from Rosmuc. The couple emigrated separately but married in the United States in 1959. His parents both left from Shannon Airport, with his father leaving in 1956 and his mother leaving in 1959.
Walsh grew up in the Savin Hill area of Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. He was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma at age 7, forcing him to miss most of second and third grade and repeat fifth grade. At age 11, after going through years of chemotherapy, a scan revealed no traces of the cancer. He went to high school at The Newman School. He initially dropped out of college. He later took night classes as an adult, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in social science from the Woods College of Advancing Studies at Boston College in 2009.

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