Robert M. McCarthy
1939-2019
Robert M. McCarthy, educator, musician and Jesuit scholar
passed away peacefully on September 10, 2019 at the Valley Regional
Hospital in Kentville, N.S. He was 80 years old. Bob died in the
loving arms of his partner of 48 years, Marie, and his dear friend Fr.
Wendell Eisener, CSC. He will be lovingly remembered and sorely missed
by his devoted family, as well as decades of former students and
fellow performing musicians. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Bob attended
parochial schools there graduating from St. Peter’s Prep (Jersey City)
in 1956. He entered the Society of Jesus (New York province) that Fall
and over the next 15 years earned degrees in Arts (Fordham), Theology
(Woodstock) and Music (Peabody Conservatory), while teaching at
Fordham Prep and Brooklyn Prep. He was ordained in 1969. During his
time at Peabody he met graduate student Marie E. Anderson whom he
married in February, 1972. Together, they moved to Nova Scotia and
joined the Acadia School of Music Faculty in September of that year.
Assoc. Prof. of Woodwinds and Theory, Bob formed and directed The
Acadia Woodwind Quintet, toured with the Vocal Ensemble and expanded
the University’s new summer music camps. He established the first jazz
band at Acadia — The Acadia Jazz Conspiracy (1973-2004) — which
frequently toured within the Maritimes. Their free concerts at the
University were always packed-out. A sub-group of the Conspiracy, The
Cajuns, could often be heard at Acadia football games playing and
cheering. It delighted Bob that his school age daughter, Shannon,
played an enthusiastic and competent tenor sax with the group. Bob
loved playing with other musical groups, including Windsor’s legendary
band “The Lower Grey Street Clam Chowder and Marching
Society.” In recent years, his collaborative combo, Emerald
Swing, played many Nova Scotia gigs advertising “Musical Styles
from the Dawn of Swing to the Present.” Also an athlete, Bob had
a passion for basketball. He was a charter member of Acadia’s long
standing ‘Noon-time Basketball Association’ (NBA) which, as years went
by, became known around the gym as ‘Basketball 911.’ His son, Rob E.,
played with the Horton High School Griffins and it was a proud moment
in 2007 when Rob was inducted into Horton High’s Basketball Hall of
Fame. In 2004 Prof. Robert McCarthy retired from the University. He
continued teaching at Dorian Hall Academy of Music in Windsor, N.S.
and at his home studio in Hortonville, N.S. He now had time to develop
his own research into the arrival of Jesuit fathers Pierre Biard and
Ennemond Masse at Port Royal, Nova Scotia, in 1611. He felt a strong
personal connection to these Jesuit missionaries…, part of this
study resulted in his poetic Blog
wife Marie, son Robert Erin (Sarah Haddock) McCarthy of Es,
Vermont, daughter Shannon Kathleen (Jason Turner) McCarthy and
grandsons Ronan James and Rory Angus of Mt. Uniacke, Nova Scotia. Also
surviving are his brother Edward (Jenny Lois Hinckley) McCarthy of
Vienna, Maine, sister Mary Elizabeth (Kenneth) Taft of Vineland, New
Jersey, and many nieces, nephews, grand nieces and grand nephews.
There will be a Celebration of Bob’s Life for friends and family at
the Horton Community Centre (Hortonville, NS) on Saturday, October 19,
2019 at 12:00 p.m., Rev. Gary Manthome and Fr. Wendell Eisener
officiating. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Nova
Scotia Victorian Order of Nurses and/or Amnesty International.
Arrangements have been entrusted to the White Family Funeral Home and
Cremation Services, Kentville.
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Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Robert McCarthy..
Death notice for the town of: Kentville, Province: Nova Scotia