PHILIP’s Obituary Philip E. McCarthy, 81, of Vero Beach, Fla. died on May 21, 2019 after a brief illness. He is survived by his second wife, Elizabeth (Gara McLaughlin); his sons, Philip (James Brodsky) of New York City, James of Chattanooga, Tenn.
and Robert (Johanna Epstein) of Cambridge, Mass. ; and his granddaughters, Eleanor and Frances; as well as 13 nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his first wife Eleanor (Gara) and his two brothers, Brian and Paul.
Mr. McCarthy was born in New York City on June 10, 1937 to Berenice (Gaudet) and Dennis McCarthy. He was raised in Maracaibo, Venezuela and Great Neck, LI. With his twin brother, Paul, he attended Cornell University’s College of Engineering as a Teagle Scholar and graduated with a B.S. from Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations in 1959.
He was a member of Chi Psi Fraternity. After his college graduation, he served as a Lieutenant j.g. in the U.S. Navy onboard the USS Northampton from 1960 to 1962. While in the Navy, his ship was sent to the Bay of Pigs invasion operation in Cuba.
Lt. McCarthy was stationed in Norfolk, Va. where he met his sweetheart and Norfolk native, Eleanor, whom he married in June 1963.
He graduated from Cornell Law School in 1965 and joined Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York City as an associate attorney in the litigation department from 1965-1966 and 1968-1970. He also practiced law in Norfolk, Va. with the firm Seawell, McCoy, Winston & Dalton from 1966 to 1968.
In 1970, he joined the legal department of International Nickel, a Dow Jones Industrial 30 company, in New York City and Toronto, where he advanced to Solicitor General-International and finally to Director of Mergers and Acquisitions and Venture Capital. In 1984, he formed McCarthy, Bund & Weersing, a venture capital firm, where he served as Managing General Partner in the Morristown, Nj. office.
Particularly interesting companies in his firm’s investment portfolio included the steakhouse Morton’s of Chicago, Ventana Medical Systems (sold to Roche Pharmaceuticals) and StrataCom, Inc. (sold to Cisco). Mr. McCarthy was a co-founder of ImmunoGen, Inc. at Harvard Medical School and the Liposome Company at Princeton University. He served on the Board of Directors of Availl, Inc., Biogrowth, Inc., California Biotechnology, Inc., ImmunoGen, the Liposome Company, Oximterix Corporation, Plant Genetics, Inc. and VIMRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc
He was also a Managing General Partner in the Michigan Investment Fund and the Heart Land Seed Capital Fund in Iowa. Mr. McCarthy served on the Advisory Board of Duke Law School from 1995-1997. He was Venture Capitalist in Residence at the Wharton School’s Executive M.B.A. program from 1996-2002 and an adjunct professor at Columbia University Business School from 1997-1998.
In 2016, he co-cofounded Ceracuity, Inc., an Alzheimer’s drug research company located at Columbia University in New York City. Mr. McCarthy and his wife Eleanor raised their three sons in Short Hills, Nj. where they lived for 27 years.
In addition to his Vero Beach residence, Mr. McCarthy maintained seasonal residences in Virginia Beach, Va. and Sedgwick, Me. During his life, he was a member of the Short Hills Club, Canoe Brook Country Club, the Racquets Club of Short Hills, the Morristown Club, the Recess, the Down Town Association, the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club, Blue Hill Country Club, John’s Island Club, Bent Pine Golf Club, Norfolk Yacht & Country Club and Princess Anne Country Club.
He enjoyed playing tennis, squash, paddle tennis and golf. He also enjoyed boating in Maine aboard “Miss Ellie”. After the death of his wife, Mr. McCarthy married Elizabeth in January 2012.
They enjoyed travels together to Europe, winters in Vero Beach, summers in Maine and holidays in Virginia and Florida with their children and grandchildren. Proud of his French Acadian heritage through his mother, Mr. McCarthy created and endowed the Elzear A. Gaudet Scholarship at Cornell Law School in honor of his maternal grandfather, a medical doctor, whose own father, Fidele, was the first French-speaking licensed physician in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The scholarship will be awarded to any admitted Cornell Law student who has proven Acadian DNA ancestry.
A Christian wake will be held on Wednesday, May 29th from 6 to 8 p.m. at Strunk Funeral Home, 916 17th Street, Vero Beach, Fla. A funeral mass will take place the following day at 10 a.m. in the parish hall at Holy Cross Church, 500 Iris Lane, Vero Beach. Burial will be private in Norfolk at a later date for immediate family only.
In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in Mr. McCarthy’s memory to the Melanoma Research Foundation, 1411 K Street, NW Suite 800, Washington, DC 20005, www. melanoma.org.
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