Obituary: Michael J. McGarry, 1942-2026

Michael J. McGarry lived and died with dignity and moved on to a better place on September 30, 2025. He was born in Burlington, Vt., on October 28, 1942.

His interests were many and varied from local, state and national politics to the law. His lifelong interest in and support of the Boston Red Sox and Celtics and his close and devoted following of the New York Giants since 1955 included traveling to games in New York and at the Yale Bowl and summer trips to Albany for training camp.

He enjoyed extensive reading on varied subjects and had great success in “Jeopardy!” and trivia games. He had abiding love for life on the water on Lake Champlain and in his Everglades-like setting at his Port Charlotte, Fla., home.

Mike was always a person who would speak his mind fully and directly, and he could afford to do that, as he spent his entire adult life working for himself as a self-employed attorney, first in Vermont as a general practice attorney and then in Florida as an elder care specialist.

He was a member of the Vermont and Florida bar associations. Mike graduated from Rice Memorial High School in 1960, the University of Vermont in 1964 and George Washington Law School in 1967 and practiced law in Vermont and Florida for over 40 years.

Mike was an active and local Democrat who served for many years on local and state Democratic committees in Vermont and was a delegate to the 1976 Democratic Convention in New York City.

Mike was intimately involved with the Burlington Parks and Recreation Department, as he was a Parks and Recreation commissioner for over 12 years, following in the footsteps of his father, J. Hanley McGarry, and his uncle, Bernard J. Leddy.

For a period of seven years Mike served as a manager of the Burlington Little League Tigers, who had the best winning record in the league during that time and many of whose members became not only good sportsmen but also good citizens.

Mr. McGarry was survived by his long-term friend and partner, Pat Miller of St. Albans, Vt. He is also survived by his brothers, Peter of Atlanta and Stephen of Burlington, Vt.; his nephew, Patrick McGarry; and his niece, Kelly Bain, her husband, David, and their daughters, Cate and Allie. He was predeceased by his mother, Frances Leddy McGarry, and father, J. Henley McGarry, a career Internal Revenue Service employee; as well as his beloved golden retriever, “Egghead,” whose adventures included two kidnappings and one court battle for custody. While living in Vermont, he had several long-term relationships and loving partners, some of whom he devoutly wished had been kidnapped instead of his dog, and others whom he wished he had been a better partner for.

Mike was a firm believer in working hard but playing harder and was often quoted as saying he was the only person he knew who succeeded in working just part time for his entire adult life and who was also able to retire for five years in his forties, prior to his actual retirement in his sixties. It was a night-and-day difference between retirement in his forties and retirement in his sixties. He was glad he had a chance to experience both, as you are a different person at each age, with different interests and abilities. Simple pleasures became more the order of the day after his final retirement, indulging in gardening, reading, dining out, garage sales, calls and letters to businesses and politicians whose bubbles needed bursting, fishing, surfing the web, and just relaxing.

While no life can be summed up in just a few sentences, the caption under Mike’s photo in his high school yearbook goes a long way toward explaining his essence: “Heart and mind were far away engaged in some glad bit of play.” Play on, Mike.

Final services will be private. In honor of Mike’s memory, please make a donation to a charitable organization of your choice.