We are saddened to inform the WilmerHale community of the death of our retired partner Vin McCarthy, who passed away on Wednesday, January 29 at the age of 79.

Vin joined Hale and Dorr out of Harvard Law School in 1965 and retired as a partner in 2003. His contributions to the Real Estate Department and to the life of the firm are ample. He chaired the firm’s Public Service Committee for a decade. He created the firm’s affordable housing practice. He led some of the most important urban renewal projects in the City of Boston during a period of resurgence for the city. But Vin’s contributions to the firm are dwarfed by the contributions he made outside the firm, where he was a consistent champion of the underdog.

Vin was the Massachusetts campaign manager for Robert F. Kennedy’s Presidential run in 1968, and served as a co-founder and board member for the RFK Action Corps from its founding in 1969 until he retired from the firm. He was the first Hale and Dorr lawyer to publicly identify as a member of the gay community, and he was a leader on LGBTQ issues, chairing the Governor’s Commission of Gay and Lesbian Youth for many years, founding the Human Rights Campaign, co-founding the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association, and serving as the President of Boston’s Pride Committee. Vin was among the founders of Boston’s Pine Street Inn, which has been providing shelter, employment opportunities and mental health and substance abuse counseling in Boston since 1971 and continued to advise Pine Street Inn for many years. That service—and his own experience as an alcoholic who achieved permanent sobriety in 1971—led to other opportunities for Vin to contribute in the affordable housing, homelessness, and recovery and addiction arenas, including serving on numerous boards and task forces under both Republican and Democratic governors and under a series of Boston mayors. He also was way ahead of his time championing wellness initiatives for lawyers struggling with alcoholism. Over the years, Vin received numerous awards and recognition for his public service, including the ABA’s Pro Bono Publico award, the Boston Bar Association Public Service Award and awards from Project Bread, the Human Rights Campaign, Volunteers of America and many others.

If it is possible, Vin’s contributions inside and outside the firm were dwarfed by his own unforgettable personality. He was 100% Boston and 100% Vin. Holding court with his Brighton accent, telling improbable but always hilarious stories, with a dose of street profanity sprinkled in for seasoning, and with a twinkle in his eye and a thunderous, staccato cackle at the punchline. Sitting anywhere within earshot of Vin—which could be quite a distance away—was sure to reduce your productivity by 20%.

Vin was a devoted father and grandfather and he will be missed by his family and the many communities of which he was a part.

Here is a 2016 profile of Vin from the Harvard School of Public Health.

A memorial service will be held on February 29, 2020 at 11 a.m. St. Cecilia Parish, 18 Belvidere Street, Boston. A reception will follow in the church hall.