John "Doc" Tynan

John “Doc’’ Tynan, a World War II fighter pilot who flew dozens of missions over Germany and served as state representative from South Boston for 16 years, died Christmas Eve at the Soldier’s Home in Chelsea following a long illness.

Mr. Tynan, who was 89, spent his life advocating on behalf of veterans and creating opportunities for people in the neighborhood where he was born.

“He was, even beyond politics, a true son of South Boston,’’ said former Boston mayor Raymond L. Flynn. “He was just so involved in the community.’’

Mr. Tynan, who was president of the South Boston Neighborhood House from 1980 to 1990, was remembered as a tireless fund-raiser for local causes who was always pressing raffle tickets into friends’ hands.

“It was to the point where [the late US Representative] Joe Moakley once said to me he would be a rich man if he didn’t know Doc Tynan,’’ said Mike Taylor, former director of South Boston House.

Taylor, who was a friend for 30 years, said Mr. Tynan used his influence with Boston leaders to win support for South Boston House, which was founded in 1901 to assist immigrants and was almost broke in the late 1970s.

The house now runs education programs and services for senior citizens. Its senior center on H Street is named after Mr. Tynan and his wife, Mary.

Mr. Tynan lived with a “sense of urgency’’ about life and helping others, said Taylor, who attributed his friend’s character to the carnage he witnessed during World War II.

Mr. Tynan, who entered the war as a private and earned the rank of major, survived five plane crashes in Europe and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with four clusters.

“I think he lived his life as a bonus,’’ Taylor said. “He was in a hurry."

“He wanted to get things done because he saw a lot of his comrades not come back,’’ Taylor said, recounting Mr. Tynan’s work in expanding adult literacy programs, college preparation courses, and after-school programs.

In a letter to his father in 1943, Mr. Tynan described air raids over Germany. “It seemed as if the sky was completely filled with enemy aircraft of all types, bent on breaking up or destroying our Fortress formations,’’ he wrote in the letter, excerpted in The Boston Globe in 1944. “If ever hell was let loose it was on this occasion.’’

As an officer of the Eighth Air Force, he commanded actors Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart, but had little to say about them. “They just happened to be in his unit,’’ Taylor said. “It wasn’t a big deal to him.’’

Mr. Tynan was the son of Dr. Joseph P. Tynan and Katherine G. (Tivnan). He got his nickname from a South Boston high school football coach who called him Little Doc, in reference to his father.

At South Boston High School, he was a football hero who made All-Scholastic and played for the 1937 team that won the city championship.

He remained devoted to local sports. Flynn, a South Boston native, said he first met Doc Tynan in the 1950s when the alumnus gave half-time pep talks to the football team.

“He’d always be there at the games and practices,’’ said Flynn, who was US ambassador to the Vatican from 1993 to 1997. “He’d show up at all the big games and be rooting on the team. He was a great inspiration.’’

Mr. Tynan was married 66 years to Mary E. (Connor), who also grew up in South Boston. In 1943, she left Boston for the first time and took a train to an air base in Boise, Idaho, to marry him, she said.

“We met in high school,’’ she said. “He took me to the senior prom, and we’ve been hanging around ever since. We had a good life together. He was a lot of fun.’’

The couple had two children. Their son John T. Jr. died of cystic fibrosis at age 21.

Their daughter, Kathleen Fraser of Plymouth, said her father could not walk through the streets of South Boston without frequent stops to greet friends. He never got a driver’s license because he walked everywhere and only reluctantly left the neighborhood about two years ago to live with her when his health began failing.

“He felt it was a privilege to serve the people of South Boston,’’ she said. “They gave him that opportunity, and he was very grateful for that.’’

Mr. Tynan was state representative from 1951 to 1965, when he gave up his seat to take a job as budget director of the House Ways and Means Committee. As a legislator, he was Democratic whip and chaired committees on veterans services and legislative research.

He was devoted to the VFW Thomas Fitzgerald Post 561 in South Boston, where he was commander from 1948 to 1968 and quartermaster in 1969.

He also served on boards of the Massachusetts College of Optometry, the Mt. Washington Bank, the Chelsea Soldiers Home, and the Columbia Yacht Club. He was a member of Gate of Heaven Parish and St. Brigid Church in South Boston, where he served as an usher and on several committees over the years.

“He believed in people picking themselves up,’’ Taylor said. “He really wanted people to have the skills to be able to compete and get a good job and support their family. It’s a remarkable legacy.’’

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Tynan leaves a brother, R. Emmett of Norwood, and a sister, Patricia Spring of Quincy.

A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at St. Brigid Church in South Boston. Burial will be in St. Joseph Cemetery in West Roxbury.