The O'Malley clan

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Cardinal Sean O'Malley

Photo by USA Today

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The ancient O'Maille or O'Malley name is said to be derived from the Gaelic words "maille" meaning gentle or smooth, and "maglios" meaning chieftain, which is fitting as the O'Malleys were once the chieftains of the baronies of Murrisk and Burrishoole in County Mayo.

On today's political scene, Martin O'Malley (D.) served as the hugely popular Mayor of Baltimore for two terms, before being elected Governor of Maryland on November 7, 2006.

Martin wasn't the first O'Malley in politics. U.S. Representative Thomas O'Malley represented Wisconsin in the early 1930s, and prior to that, Edwin Joseph O'Malley (1881-1953), born in the Bronx, was a ward boss for Tammany Hall, and served as the Commissioner of Public Markets in New York City.

Edwin's son, Walter Francis O'Malley, after his family lost its money in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, attended Fordham University at night. Hired by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an attorney, he eventually became the president and chief stockholder of the team. And in a move that turned out to be very successful, but at the time enraged millions of Brooklynites, he moved the team to Los Angeles.

Walter turned over the Dodgers presidency to his son Peter in 1970. Peter held the position until 1998, when the team was sold to Rupert Murdoch. In 2004, Boston businessman Frank McCourt bought the team for a reported $371 million.

Peter has made major contributions to the U.S. Little League program, baseball's acceptance as an Olympic sport, and the promotion of baseball globally, particularly in Latin America and Japan, and Ireland, where he built a number of baseball fields and a Little League field.

Another O'Malley who went far afield was King O'Malley (1858-1953). King left the U.S. and moved to Australia after contracting TB. He recovered, and was eventually elected to the Australian House of Assembly.

As the Minister for Home Affairs, O'Malley helped select the site of Australia's capital city, Canberra. When O'Malley died in Melbourne at the age of 95, he was the last surviving member of the first Australian Parliament.

Meanwhile in Ireland, Donagh Brendan O'Malley, Fianna Fail politician and cabinet minister, was a pivotal figure in Irish education in the 1960s. He introduced free secondary school education and, where necessary, instituted an aggressive building program of community schools and regional technical colleges.

Donagh's nephew, Desmond Joseph O'Malley, founded the Progressive Democrat Party, and became its first leader in 1985. He also served as a TD (member of parliament) for Limerick, and as the Minister at the Departments of Industry and Commerce and of Justice. Des retired in 2002, but his daughter Fiona O'Malley served as TD for Dun Laoghaire from 2002 until losing her seat in the recent election. Her cousin, Tim O'Malley, was the former TD for Limerick East and Minister at the Department of Health and Children.

In Ireland's fight for freedom the name O'Malley is legend going back to the 16th century and Grainne Ni Mhaille, or Grace O'Malley. One of the clan's most famous daughters, Grace, the subject of the Broadway musical "The Pirate Queen," was a seafaring clan leader who rebelled against the forces of England's Queen Elizabeth.

Ernie O'Malley was an IRA officer who played an important role in the Irish War of Independence.His books, "On Another Man's Wound" and "The Singing Flame," are considered among the finest memoirs of that period. Ernie's son Cormac, who serves on the Board of Advisors of Glucksman Ireland House at NYU, presents the annual Ernie O'Malley Lecture Series at the university.

O'Malleys also fought proudly in the U.S., and one, Robert Emmet O'Malley, a corporal in the Marine Corps, received the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry in combat in the Vietnam War.

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