BOSTON - The dean of the Massachusetts Senate, Sen. Frederick E. Berry (D-Peabody), was to be come majority leader today.

Berry said Tuesday night that appointment to the leadership post is an honor, but comes during the most challenging fiscal crisis the state has faced in his 21 years in the Senate.

“It’s kind of a cruel time to take over,” Berry said. “There are so many social programs that I’ve helped build and right now we’re going to tear ‘em down. It’s a very painful experience.”

Berry, who served as a majority whip when former Sen. William Bulger was Senate President and most recently as vice-chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said the $22 billion state budget includes billions in skyrocketing fixed costs, such as Medicaid, insurance for state employees, the MBTA and long-term debt.

“This is going to be a very demanding year,” he said.

Berry touted his experience in the Senate during the Bay State’s recession of 1989-1990 as something that will help him in his new leadership role. He predicted the House and Senate leadership will work more closely than ever and also expressed confidence in new Gov. Mitt Romney.

“He (Romney) has an outstanding reputation as someone who comes into a bad situation and turns it around,” Berry said. “We hope he’s smarter than us. I don’t think he’s ever faced a challenge like he’s facing now.

Rumors that Berry would receive that honor have circulated since New Year’s Day, when the senate elected state Sen. Robert Travaglini (D-East Boston) as its new president.

Berry is the acknowledged dean of the Senate. At 53, he is the elder of the two 20-year senators.

The post of Senate majority leader carries a stipend of $22,500, in addition to Berry’s Senate salary of $50,000 a year. But the new post results in a $10,000 pay hike for Berry, who had received a $12,500 stipend for the Ways and Means Committee vice-chairmanship. Berry gives up the latter position to become majority leader.

Berry said he will not accept the $3,258 constitutionally mandated pay raise offered to lawmakers. “I can’t do it, not when we have to cut so many programs that I believe in,” he said.

The senator is a man who understand persistence in the face of difficulty. Born with cerebral palsy, a motor disorder that affects the way he moves and talks, the Peabody native confounded doctors who warned his parents that he might never walk and talk.

He went on the graduate from Bishop Fenwick High and Boston College, then received his master’s in education from Antioch College. He served as director of Peabody’s Heritage Industries and was a Peabody city councilor from 1979-1983.

First elected in 1982, the Boston College graduate was named the second assistant majority leader in 1990. Later he was named first assistant majority leader, a title he lost when former State Sen. Thomas Birmingham (D-Chelsea) became senate president.

“I was sent down to Pawtucket for a while,” Berry joked Tuesday night.

In addition to his Senate Ways and Means Committee post, Berry has served recently as first assistant majority leader.

Peabody Mayor Michael Bonfanti said he was pleased with the news of Berry’s new post.