Mary Alice McKenzie: A Storied Life, or A Life Full of Stories

Mary Alice McKenzie: A Storied Life, Or A Life Full Of Stories

Joyce Marcel

Vermont Business Magazine

Mar 31, 2006 19:00 EST

I'm an open book," said attorney Mary Alice McKenzie, laughing and settling down to be interviewed at the Burlington law office of Paul Frank & Collins, where she practices employment and labor law.

But she was underestimating herself. McKenzie's fife is more like five or six open books, some of them novels, one or two of them romances, one a great tragedy, and the rest of them serious business and political primers.

Looking at this diminutive, fine-boned, tailored woman, so bright, open, friendly and eager to talk, it is hard to remember that a large piece of the history of Vermont is imbedded in the wealthy and distinguished Vermont family she comes from, that her first love was criminal law, that she worked under nowMayor Richard M Daley in the Chicago state's attorney's office, that she was a woman running McKenzies of Vermont, a four-generation family company in the tough, male-dominated meat packing industry, that she lost her company under what anyone would consider brutal and heartbreaking circumstances, that her next job, supposed to be an easy one as general counsel to the Vermont State Colleges, turned out to be at the center of a major uproar over teacher benefits, and that she has since slipped gracefully into private practice.

For a 48-year-old woman, McKenzie has covered a lot of territory and made a lot of powerful friends.

McKenzie has an unusual kind of charm. In a conversation with her, tapes unspool and hours fly by like minutes. When she talks about such things as business, the law and the death penalty, she is serious and erudite. When she talks about Vermont politics, which is in her blood, she becomes animated. And when she laughs she looks like a schoolgirl.

People who know McKenzie speak of her with the greatest respect and affection.

"Mary Alice is a person of integrity," said her cousin and close friend Lynn McClintock of Williston. "She has a heart for people, but I also think she can make decisions. Maybe not the most popular decisions, but she knows they're the right decisions. She came back at her father's asking to help run McKenzies, but she could have stayed out West. She kept McKenzie's going and made some tough decisions to try and keep people working, and I know none of those decisions were easy ones. She took some heat for them, too. But she always stood up for the little guy, which is not always the guy who gets stood up for. I have a deep respect for Mary Alice with the things she's done."

Fred Hackett, chairman of HVM Corp and the founder of Hackett Valine & McDonald, has served on several boards with McKenzie, including CVPS and VELCO. He was one of the financial backers of her unfortunate entrepreneurial effort with Waterbury Fresh Foods. Even though he lost money on that deal - "a lot of money," he said he calls her an "extraordinary lady."

"She's a very smart lady," Hackett said. "I've watched her in legal settings, in business settings and in politics. She's a very, very hardworking person. When she's committed to something, she's totally committed, regardless of the time or the effort or the odds. Above all, she is a person of very high integrity When she was involved in Waterbury Fresh Foods, she was focused on making sure her employees were treated fairly. Her whole focus was to keep that business going and growing so her employees would have work. It cost her a lot. That was a key example of integrity at her own expense. Yes, I lost money in that deal - and it wasn't just a little bit either. But she couldn't have worked harder to make it work for her partners and her employees."

Another of McKenzie's financial backers, businessman David Coates, now vice president of the New England Culinary School, said, "She can be as tough as nails. She may be small, but I'll tell you right now she can hold her own with anyone. I remember her having difficulty dealing with the bank, and she was absolutely convinced that the path she wanted to go on was right. Her banker really pushed her to the Emit, but she held her ground and won the day. I remember this individual, after this was all over, essentially saying, 'You were right.' It's that kind of lady she is. Not unreasonable, but by God she knew she was right and held her ground."

McKenzie was married to Vermont Attorney General William H Sorrell from 1985 to 2002; they have two children, 18 and 17. When Sorrell last month argued Vermont's campaign finance reform law in front of the US Supreme Court, the children were there to watch.

"They were appropriately awestruck to be there," McKenzie said. "You kind of speak in whispers."

In 2005, McKenzie remarried Allen Rodgers, who has three children.

"So we are a combined family of five kids," McKenzie said.

The first McKenzie came from Ireland during the Potato Famine in the late 1840s.

"The family story is that my great-great-great-grandfather came over on a boat to Montreal and walked to Vermont to find his little piece of land," McKenzie said. "And then sent for his wife and children to come over and join him. I don't know if it's true, but it's a great story."

The McKenzies started farming in Shelburne, where they raised pigs, rendered lard, and made sausage. McKenzie's great-grandfather moved to Burlington and opened a meat market, where he successfully sold the family's pork products. Out of those small, hardscrabble beginnings, the family developed a distribution system and sold meat products around the state, delivering them by horse and wagon.

"And the company grew from there," McKenzie said. "It was the first Vermont meat company, so when the company was inspected by the state, it's inspection number was number one. The official name was John McKenzie Packing Company. Over time, the McKenzie name became so well known that the company became McKenzie of Vermont, and that is what it remains today."

The first McKenzie meat market in Burlington was on George Street. It was also the site McKenzie's great-grandparent's home. Then, for 75 years, it was the site of the McKenzie plant. Today an elderly housing building called McKenzie House stands on the site.