the goRtons And sLAdes 17
to match, became the chairman of Slade Gorton & Company, based once
again in Boston, while Slade’s niece, Kim Gorton, in due course ascended
to CEO and president. By the 21st century, Slade’s stock in the company
had largely devolved to his children. Other than serving on its board for a
while, he was never active in the company’s management. His youngest
brother, Nat, became a respected federal judge in Boston. Their sister,
Mary Jane, a voluble sprite, went to Wellesley College and became an art
historian, college professor and passionate advocate for abandoned and
otherwise abused animals.
Gorton’s of Gloucester, now a subsidiary of a Japanese seafood con-
glomerate is unrelated—save for its history—to the Boston firm owned
and operated by the Gorton heirs.
“Adopp n sLAde didn’t get along that well from his teenage years into
early adulthood,” Mike Gorton attests. “Since Slade was exceptionally
bright and doing so well in school, Pop wanted to groom him for the fish
business, but Slade made it clear he had no desire to do so.” Loud argu-
ments often ensued. In fact, they were still ensuing decades later. The
clan was getting ready to go out to dinner one night when Slade and Pop
“Pop” (Thomas Slade Gorton Jr.) and Mom, Ruth Israel Gorton, with Mary
Jane, Mike and Slade around 1935. Brother Nat arrived three years later. Gorton
family album