Kevin Ryan: The best friend Jersey kids ever had

Kevin Ryan: The best friend Jersey kids ever had
Posted by Bob Braun March 03, 2008 10:13AM
Categories: Family & Kids
Kevin Ryan ignores boundaries. That can get a bureaucrat into trouble. Good thing for him he was top guy in the state Department of Children and Family Services whose only boss was Gov. Jon Corzine, a man with other things on his mind.

"Some people around here thought I went too far in some cases," he says. A smile tempts his face like that of a boy remembering mischief.

Take the case of Armaun Cameron. A 13-year-old with cerebral palsy living with his sick grandmother, Rosie Mathura, in a dark, decrepit apartment in Irvington. When Mathura had heart problems and was hospitalized for months, Armaun was placed in foster care by the state Division of Youth and Family Services.

"Terrible situation," says Ryan.

Especially because, after she got well, the state wouldn't return her late daughter's son. Ryan read about the case and got directly involved. Armaun returned home.

"Some people don't realize our job is to keep families together," he says.

If he stopped there, Ryan still could maintain standing as a state suit in good repute. But he showed up at Armaun's birthday party, serving the guests cake -- then took the youngster and friends to a Disney on Ice Show. A few days later, he had Mathura and Armaun over for Thanksgiving dinner. Followed by -- well, it hasn't stopped.

"But, see, I don't have to worry about what those people say about boundaries anymore," says Ryan, who leaves his post in two weeks.

He has, however, left word that, if anything happens to Rosie Mathura or if Armaun needs help again, Kevin Ryan, private citizen and ex-bureaucrat, will be there.

And, while those in cubicles who thought him guilty of grandstanding might not miss Ryan when he joins a private foundation run by rich guy Ray Chambers, his departure is a loss for the state and its most vulnerable children.

Ryan was a good manager and, in two years, repaired many problems facing DYFS. The boundary he most consistently ignored -- more accurately, a boundary he never acknowledged -- was between his upbringing as a devout, blue-collar Irish-American Catholic devoted to the gospel of social justice and his life's work.

"My faith was the greatest gift my parents ever gave me," says Ryan, the oldest of six children and the father of six.

His faith is the Vatican II variety, honored now more as history than guide in many dioceses. He calls the church's social justice teachings "oxygen for a planet consumed by promiscuous materialism."

One hero and mentor to Ryan when he was at Catholic University was the late George Higgins, who earned the title of "the labor priest," a scholar, an activist and a cleric. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton. Ryan also admired Cesar Chavez, the head of the United Farm Workers, who died in 1993.

"Listen, growing up, my parents said we didn't have to eat vegetables because we were boycotting them in support of the farm workers' union -- how can you not love a man who got you out of eating vegetables?"

That's a joke.

"I worshipped Cesar Chavez," he says. Ryan was raised to support unions and progressive struggles. He went to Catholic University and to Georgetown University, where he earned a law degree and the chance to make big bucks.

"I just couldn't do that," he says. His first job after passing the bar was working as a lawyer for Covenant House, the sanctuary for homeless children. He has never had a job that pays close to what he could make in a private law firm.

He married young and now, at 41, has six children ranging in age from 2 to 16. He and his wife Clare, who doesn't work outside the house, face two decades of having two or three children in college at the same time -- and he expects each of them to go to college and probably professional and graduate school.

"They have so much promise," he says of his children. "I owe them."

Ryan won't say that's why he is leaving or what he'll be making for Chambers' Amelior and MCJ Foundations, although it's sure to be more than the $141,000 a state Cabinet member makes. He is uncomfortable caught between a life believing money can't buy everything and knowing what it can buy includes a college education. Or six.

Still, what Chambers will pay won't approach what a Georgetown law graduate with his intelligence and managerial skills can make in the market. Ryan will be running programs for Newark children and working in Africa on an anti-malaria crusade.

"I will be happy doing that. The happiest people I know are those who realize the key to fulfillment is service to others," he says.

"It's the bliss of life."