2007.07.18: July 18, 2007: Headlines: COS - Thailand: Country directors - Thailand: Obituaries: : Obituary for Thailand Country Director John C. McCarthy
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Thailand:
Peace Corps Thailand:
Peace Corps Thailand: Newest Stories:
2007.07.18: July 18, 2007: Headlines: COS - Thailand: Country directors - Thailand: Obituaries: : Obituary for Thailand Country Director John C. McCarthy
Obituary for Thailand Country Director John C. McCarthy
His legal career was interrupted in 1963 when McCarthy, inspired by the call to service in President Kennedy's inaugural address, became director of the Peace Corps in Thailand, where he supervised about 600 volunteers over a three-year period. His arrival in Bangkok coincided with the early stages of the Vietnam War, and the war colored his time in Thailand from the beginning, Lori McCarthy remembered. Students and staff of a Vietnamese private school had fled the country due to the warfare; one of McCarthy's first assignments was to give the commencement address to the school's graduating class. "That was my first inkling that the situation in Vietnam was becoming life-threatening to people," Lori McCarthy said.
Obituary for Thailand Country Director John C. McCarthy
Noted attorney dies at age 83
By Will Bigham, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 07/18/2007 11:56:17 PM PDT
CLAREMONT - John C. McCarthy, a noted trial attorney, World War II veteran and director of the Peace Corps in Thailand during the early years of the Vietnam War, has died. He was 83.
McCarthy, a Claremont resident for 51 years, died June 27 at home. He had been battling melanoma for about a year, said his wife, Lori McCarthy.
For most of his life, McCarthy's passion was the law, and during his career as an attorney he argued several cases before the California Supreme Court. The most famous was Friends of Mammoth v. Mono County, a landmark case that in 1972 significantly altered the environmental review rules for private development in the state.
"He was very disciplined, and very much a perfectionist," said Lori McCarthy, 76. "If you hired him, you were very happy to have him on your team, because he would give it his all. He would wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning and begin working on your case."
John McCarthy was born Nov. 14, 1923, in Chicago, and was raised in Rockford, Ill. He lived there until he was 17 and left for college at Miami University of Ohio.
After finishing his first year, World War II began, and McCarthy joined the Navy and became radar officer on the USS Taylor.
Advertisement
McCarthy was sent to the Pacific theater and was on hand for some of the war's historic moments. His ship was one of the first to enter Tokyo Bay after the Japanese emperor agreed to a surrender. The sailors were worried that word of the surrender may not have spread throughout the country.
"They were not sure they would obey the emperor - but indeed they did," Lori McCarthy said. "They obeyed the emperor and laid down their weapons."
McCarthy was also on the USS Missouri when Japanese officials came onboard to sign the terms of surrender. It was his job to supervise Japanese news reporters who were on the ship to cover the event, Lori McCarthy said.
When the war ended, McCarthy moved to Los Angeles. He continued his undergraduate studies at USC, and was part of the UCLA School of Law's first graduating class in 1952.
He met Lori at a picnic in Orange County in 1959. They married in 1960.
His legal career was interrupted in 1963 when McCarthy, inspired by the call to service in President Kennedy's inaugural address, became director of the Peace Corps in Thailand, where he supervised about 600 volunteers over a three-year period.
His arrival in Bangkok coincided with the early stages of the Vietnam War, and the war colored his time in Thailand from the beginning, Lori McCarthy remembered.
Students and staff of a Vietnamese private school had fled the country due to the warfare; one of McCarthy's first assignments was to give the commencement address to the school's graduating class.
"That was my first inkling that the situation in Vietnam was becoming life-threatening to people," Lori McCarthy said.
McCarthy practiced several different types of law during his long career, focusing later in life on wrongful termination and insurance law in his Claremont practice in the 1980s.
Jim Stoneman, a former law partner and close friend of McCarthy, said McCarthy was most well-known for two cases - the Mono County case, and a Las Vegas wrongful termination case.
In the Mono County case, McCarthy was hired by the preservation group Friends of Mammoth to prevent a seven-story condominium from being built at the base of one of the ski area's most famous peaks, Stoneman said.
McCarthy prevented the development, and in the process the California Supreme Court ruled that the California Environmental Quality Act applied to private development - not just public projects as previously interpreted.
The ruling expanded significantly the number of developments subject to environmental impact reports, a step in the development process that all large developments must go through.
"Before that, no one believed that EIRs applied to private development, so I don't think you can overstate the importance of that case," Stoneman said.
Later in the 1970s, McCarthy represented a group of 37 blackjack dealers who sued the Hilton Casino in Las Vegas for wrongful termination.
McCarthy won the case, and the $38 million award to the plaintiffs was "the largest civil verdict by a California lawyer that year," Stoneman said. "That was a significant verdict at the time."
McCarthy was also hired by the city of Beverly Hills in the late 1970s when the city was fighting developers who wished to build large projects along the Avenue of the Stars. He successfully fought most of the development, Stoneman said.
"He was universally regarded as an excellent trial and appellate lawyer," Stoneman said. "He wrote several books, which gave him an amount of prominence among attorneys, at least."
After his retirement, McCarthy focused mainly on outdoor activities such as sailing and skiing - a passion that made him one of the best of his age in his later years.
In 2003, at age 79, McCarthy earned a bronze medal at the National Ski Championships in Utah in the downhill competition.
McCarthy is also survived by his son Michael McCarthy of Claremont; and two daughters - Mary McCarthy of Seattle, and Sheila McCarthy of Monrovia.
Instead of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions be made to the Inland Pacific Ballet, 5050 Arrow Highway, Montclair 91763.
Memorial services will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church in Claremont.
Staff writer Will Bigham can be reached by e-mail at will.bigham@dailybulletin.com, or by phone at (909) 483-8553.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: July, 2007; Peace Corps Thailand; Directory of Thailand RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Thailand RPCVs; Country Directors - Thailand; Obituaries; Peace Corps Bibliography; Peace Corps Directory; Peace Corps History; Peace Corps Message Board; Recent Peace Corps News
When this story was posted in July 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Dodd issues call for National Service Standing on the steps of the Nashua City Hall where JFK kicked off his campaign in 1960, Presidential Candidate Chris Dodd issued a call for National Service. "Like thousands of others, I heard President Kennedy's words and a short time later joined the Peace Corps." Dodd said his goal is to see 40 million people volunteering in some form or another by 2020. "We have an appetite for service. We like to be asked to roll up our sleeves and make a contribution," he said. "We haven't been asked in a long time." |
| Public diplomacy rests on sound public policy When President Kennedy spoke of "a long twilight struggle," and challenged the country to "ask not," he signaled that the Cold War was the challenge and framework defining US foreign policy. The current challenge is not a struggle against a totalitarian foe. It is not a battle against an enemy called "Islamofascism." From these false assumptions flow false choices, including the false choice between law enforcement and war. Instead, law enforcement and military force both must be essential instruments, along with diplomacy, including public diplomacy. But public diplomacy rests on policy, and to begin with, the policy must be sound. Read more. |
| Ambassador revokes clearance for PC Director A post made on PCOL from volunteers in Tanzania alleges that Ambassador Retzer has acted improperly in revoking the country clearance of Country Director Christine Djondo. A statement from Peace Corps' Press Office says that the Peace Corps strongly disagrees with the ambassador’s decision. On June 8 the White House announced that Retzer is being replaced as Ambassador. Latest: Senator Dodd has placed a hold on Mark Green's nomination to be Ambassador to Tanzania. |
| Peace Corps Funnies A PCV writing home? Our editor hard at work? Take a look at our Peace Corps Funnies and Peace Corps Cartoons and see why Peace Corps Volunteers say that sometimes a touch of levity can be one of the best ways of dealing with frustrations in the field. Read what RPCVs say about the lighter side of life in the Peace Corps and see why irreverent observations can often contain more than a grain of truth. We'll supply the photos. You supply the captions. |
| PCOL serves half million PCOL's readership for April exceeded 525,000 visitors - a 50% increase over last year. This year also saw the advent of a new web site: Peace Corps News that together with the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps serve 17,000 RPCVs, Staff, and Friends of the Peace Corps every day. Thanks for making PCOL your source of news for the Peace Corps community. Read more. |
| Suspect confesses in murder of PCV Search parties in the Philippines discovered the body of Peace Corps Volunteer Julia Campbell near Barangay Batad, Banaue town on April 17. Director Tschetter expressed his sorrow at learning the news. “Julia was a proud member of the Peace Corps family, and she contributed greatly to the lives of Filipino citizens in Donsol, Sorsogon, where she served,” he said. Latest: Suspect Juan Duntugan admits to killing Campbell. Leave your thoughts and condolences . |
| Warren Wiggins: Architect of the Peace Corps Warren Wiggins, who died at 84 on April 13, became one of the architects of the Peace Corps in 1961 when his paper, "A Towering Task," landed in the lap of Sargent Shriver, just as Shriver was trying to figure out how to turn the Peace Corps into a working federal department. Shriver was electrified by the treatise, which urged the agency to act boldly. Read Mr. Wiggins' obituary and biography, take an opportunity to read the original document that shaped the Peace Corps' mission, and read John Coyne's special issue commemorating "A Towering Task." |
| Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace Corps Senator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments. |
| He served with honor One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: Daily Bulletin
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Thailand; Country directors - Thailand; Obituaries
PCOL38273
41