North Shore Philanthropist Dies After Two-Year ALS Battle

BEVERLY, MA — Sean Healey, the longtime chief executive of Affiliated Managers Group Inc., died Tuesday after a two-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He was 59.

Healey joined AMG in 1995 and was fundamental in its growth to a firm to a $600 billion asset manager. The company was based in Beverly before moving its headquarters to West Palm Beach, FL after Healey moved there. Healey was named CEO in 2005, a role he relinquished after his ALS diagnosis. He was the firm's executive chairman at the time of his death.

The company still has an office in Beverly and Healey continued to play a big role in Massachusetts business and philanthropic circles after his move to Florida. In 2018, Healey led a $40 million donation drive to fund an ALS research center as Massachusetts General Hospital. Healey, who was married to former Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, served on the boards of Harvard Law School and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem.

"For the past 27 years Sean was my friend, mentor and an inimitable leader, always exhibiting an indefatigable entrepreneurial spirit and unwavering dedication to friends, colleagues and Affiliate partners," AMG CEO Jay Horgen said in a statement. "His deep intellectual curiosity and creativity, delivered with a penetrating wit, were inspiring and created tremendous value for AMG stakeholders over the decades."