John McGuinn
John McGuinn of Nantucket died on June 19th, 2019 at age 85. He was born in West Hartford Connecticut, graduated there from the Kingswood-Oxford School and Holy Cross College in Worcester Massachusetts. After that he attended Georgetown University Law Center where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Law Journal and graduated with LL.B and LL.M degrees.
After clerking for Judge Charles Fahy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, he practiced employment relations law in private practice in Washington D.C. for forty years. During this time he was an adjunct professor of labor law at Georgetown from 1963 to 1969. He was admitted to and argued cases in eleven of the thirteen U.S. circuit Courts of Appeal as well as the U.S. Supreme Court where he argued and won an employment testing case in 1979.
For the last twenty years of his career John represented national advertisers and advertising agencies in negotiating with the talent unions—SAG/AFTRA and AFM- minimum rates and working conditions for performers appearing in television and radio commercials. He also acted as a trustee on the SAG-Producers Health and Pension Plans from 1987 and became emeritus trustee in 2013
John met Rosanne Kling on a blind date for the Fourth of July celebrations in 1962.
After fireworks and dinner they decided to get married that same night, They were married on April 20, 1963 and had four children: Greg McGuinn of Alexandria VA, Jenifer Demko of West Newton MA, Jeremy McGuinn of Cary NC, and Laura McC arthy of North Reading MA. They had six grandchildren: Jessica McGuinn, Maddie and Anna Demko, Patrick and Jack McGuinn, and Kevin McGuinn who predeceased them.
After his retirement, John and Rosanne moved from Washington to Nantucket in 1998 where they enjoyed island life and travelling. John joined a group of swimmers at the Nantucket Sound beach known to island regulars as the Gaza Strip”. His motto in good times and bad was borrowed from the fish character Nemo—“Just keep swimming.”
John and Rosanne were parish members and Eucharistic ministers at Saint Mary Church and members of the Wharf Rat club . John was also a member of the Rotary Club of Nantucket.
Rosanne died on New Years Eve in 2015 after living with breast cancer and a bout of esphogeal cancer since 2000.
A funeral Mass for John will be held on August 1st, 2019 at 10:00am at St. Mary Church on Federal Street Nantucket.
The family has asked that in lieu of flowers contributions be made to the Nantucket Cottage Hospital.
Lost track of John over the many years since graduation. Remember
well our ideological debates. He was indeed a brilliant mind! His
career of accomplishments in the legal field speaks for itself. God
rest his soul, and deep condolences to his family.
Bob Di Pippo ‘56
.
Through the H.C. Alumni Office, I received news of John’s death. Though we lost contact after graduation from college, I remember him as a lively, very smart, interesting person and very good company. He and Dick Fauliso were good friends during our time at H.C., especially during senior year.
My condolences to all John’s family. I’m sure that he lives on in the fond memories of many of our H.C. classmates, as he does in mine.
Peace!
Dick Durnan