Joseph Berard McGrath

Joseph B. McGrath, 88, died in Somerville, MA, on July 4, 2011. Mr. McGrath was the son of the late Dr. Joseph M. and Florence [Berard] McGrath of Malden, MA. A graduate of Malden High School and Harvard College (’44), Mr. McGrath served as a 1st Lieutenant in the 17th Airborne Division during World War II.

On March 24, 1945, Lt. McGrath participated in Operation Varsity, the first airborne invasion into Germany itself, in which some 4,000 U.S. and British aircraft dropped troops behind enemy lines. Badly wounded – so badly that he received a maximum disability retirement -- Mr. McGrath returned to the United States before the war’s end. He promptly applied to Harvard Law School and, at a meeting with the then Dean, was verbally accepted. Mr. McGrath asked for an acceptance in writing. When the war ended a few months later, Harvard Law School was flooded with applications and rescinded all acceptances except those in writing.

In August of 1945, Mr. McGrath married Anne [O’Neil], his college sweetheart since their freshman years at Harvard and Radcliffe. Following his graduation from law school, the couple moved to Washington, D.C. where, by the time Mr. McGrath was in his mid-thirties, he was the proud patriarch of a household of ten, including seven children and a mother-in-law. “No one could have asked for a more wonderful father” said his oldest daughter Anne. “He was involved in every aspect of our lives. He was funny and interesting and we revered him. He used to say that he felt like the king of a small country every time he entered his front door. He and my mother had a very harmonious marriage, and we were a singularly happy family. When I was a teenager, my father founded the ‘McGrath Mutual Admiration Society’ (‘MMAS’ for short) and our parents gave each of us an engraved silver bowl from the MMAS on our 21st birthdays, a tradition that has continued with the grandchildren. To this day, many of us have some daily reminder of the MMAS in our lives, whether it be an e-mail address or a vanity plate.”

Mr. McGrath loved Capitol Hill, where he spent most of his professional life as a lobbyist, first for the National Association of Home Builders and later for the National Forest Products Association. His last and proudest position before retiring from the legal profession was General Counsel to the Bicentennial Commission for the U.S. Constitution, chaired by Chief Justice Warren Burger.

In 1990, at the age of 68, Mr. McGrath was ordained as a Deacon in the Catholic

Church. He subsequently earned a Licentiate in Canon Law at the Catholic University of America and was appointed by James Cardinal Hickey to be a judge on the Tribunal, the Court of First Instance for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.

In the year 2000, Mr. and Mrs. McGrath celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary at the Washington, D.C. home of their son Jim and daughter-in-law Patty. A few months later, Jim died suddenly when a small blood clot travelled to his heart. A mere three months after Jim’s death, Mrs. McGrath also died suddenly, of pancreatic cancer. Mr. McGrath was grief-stricken by his double loss. He subsequently lived for some years with his daughter Marguerite and son-in-law Bill in Clyde Hill, WA, and since 2008, had resided at the VNA Assisted Living Community in Somerville, MA. One of his greatest pleasures in being back on the East Coast was the opportunity to get together with his Harvard Classmates.

Mr. McGrath was a past president of the Harvard Club of Washington, D.C.; a past president of the Thomas More Society of Washington, D.C.; a Knight of Malta; and a member of the Metropolitan Club of Washington, D.C.

In addition to his late son, James E. McGrath, Mr. McGrath has six children who survive him: Anne M. Thomas of Boston, MA; Joseph C. McGrath of Kansas City, MO; Kathleen M. Dickerson of Moscow, ID; Marguerite M. Stanley of Clyde Hill, WA; Thomas B. McGrath of Los Angeles, CA; and Benjamin M. McGrath of New York City, NY. He is also survived by his sister Mary Frances Ballard of San Jose, CA, and fifteen grandchildren: Lorien, Jessie, Mark, Ben, Abbey, Matt, Katie, Will, J.T., William, Sarah, Annie, Mollie, Emma, and Sally.

A service of remembrance will take place at the Harvard Faculty Club, 20 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA (617- 495- 5758) on Tuesday, August 16, 2011 at 2:30 p.m. A funeral mass will be held at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, 3630 Quesada Street, Washington, D.C., on September 13, 2011 at 11:00 a.m., followed by a 3:00 p.m. burial with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. Visiting hours will take place at Joseph Gawler’s Sons Funeral Home, 5130 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. (202-966-6400) on September 12, 2011 from 4:00-7:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Joseph B. McGrath Class of 1944 Cornerstone Scholarship Fund, 124 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 or a charity of the donor’s choice.

Arrangements entrusted to Joseph Gawler's Sons Inc., Washington, DC.