Eileen Perini

Eileen Callahan Perini of Medfield and Cohasset, MA, formerly of Dover, MA, died peacefully on Saturday, March 31, 2018 . Loving wife of David B. Perini; beloved mother of Jennifer of San Francisco, CA, Kristin and husband Bill Driscoll of Hingham, MA, Timothy and wife Patricia of Harrison, NY, Andrea of Brooklyn, NY and the late David Jr. Daughter of Margaret Lynch and Denis Callahan. Sister of Mary Guarente, Margaret Callahan, Noreen Cronin, Denis Callahan, Kathleen Grannan, Christine Shanley, and the late Ann Tibbetts and John Callahan. She attended Arlington High School and graduated from Cardinal Cushing Jr. College in 1957. Eileen married David B. Perini in 1962. Eileen returned to school twenty seven years later, and at the age of 47, while still raising five children, earned her Bachelor of Arts from Wellesley College in 1984. The central passion of Eileen's life was her work for the Jimmy Fund's David B. Perini Jr. Quality of Life Clinic, which she and husband David established at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in 1992, soon after the death of their son David Jr. at age 26. Eileen joined the Dana-Farber Board of Trustees in 1990, furthering the Perini family's partnership as one of Dana-Farber's "first families." Her husband David served on the Board for many years, and his father, Louis R. Perini, was a Founding Trustee of the Institute who served on the Board from 1948-1972. Her daughter Jennifer is currently a Dana-Farber Trustee.