Published January 15, 2021
MELROSE — James A. McAvoy Jr., 94, died from complications related to COVID-19 on Jan. 8, 2021.
Jim lived a storied life, like many in his generation of Americans. Jim was born to James A. McAvoy, Sr. and Katherine McAvoy in Melrose in 1926 and maintained his connection to the City throughout his life, leaving only after the death of his wife Doris in 2017.
Jim grew up during the Great Depression and worked throughout his childhood. Jim’s childhood work included cleaning the three railroad depots in Melrose, working in the butcher shop of the First National Market, and serving as a lifeguard on the beach at Crystal Lake in Melrose, now known as El Pond.
Jim attended St. Mary’s School in Melrose and graduated from Malden Catholic High School in neighboring Malden. While at Malden Catholic, Jim played ice hockey and baseball, eventually being inducted into the Malden Catholic Athletic Hall of Fame as a member of the first Malden Catholic hockey team, a team that won a Massachusetts State Championship.
Upon graduating from Malden Catholic, Jim joined the United States Navy and served honorably as the radio man on a Kennebec-class oiler, the USS Kankakee, in the South Pacific throughout World War II.
Upon discharge from the Navy, Jim went to Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala., as the recipient of a scholarship to play college baseball. A knee injury suffered during his first year on the team ended his career, and Jim transferred to St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. After college, Jim attended Boston College Law School, passed the bar exam and became a Massachusetts attorney.
Jim soon married love of his life, Doris M. O’Connor of Winthrop. Jim and Doris soon started a family in their Melrose home. The couple had five children, four boys and a girl, and remained married until Doris passed away in 2017. While tending to family life in Melrose, Jim thrived as an attorney and businessman.
Jim started his career as General Counsel to the Rockland Insurance Company, an insurance company based in Boston. While at Rockland, Jim began to establish his own firm in Melrose. He eventually left Rockland for private practice. In the early 1970s, Gov. Frank Sargent appointed Jim to serve as a Public Administrator, administering probate estates for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Jim proudly held and worked in this position until he voluntarily submitted his resignation to Gov. Charlie Baker in 2017.
While working as an attorney, Jim found time, along with other local businessmen, to establish the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company. The Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, based in Melrose, became a very popular business and established branches in other cities before selling to a larger banking organization that has now become part of Rockland Trust Company. Jim served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Metropolitan Bank Company from conception until the ultimate sale.
Jim also served in important volunteer positions in law and with his church. In law, he served as President of the Bar Association of the First District of Middlesex County and eventually went on to serve as President of the Bar Association for all of Middlesex County.
As a lifelong member of St. Mary’s Church, Jim attended Sunday service with Doris and his family regularly and served as CCD coordinator and as a lector at services for many years. Even with all these activities, Jim spent a generous amount of time his wife and five children.
Jim enjoyed watching his children play hockey and baseball; he did not really enjoy dance recitals. His unruly children each posed different challenges to Jim and Doris growing up, and Jim and Doris handled the challenges with love and patience. Once the children grew up, Jim really enjoyed the visits and gatherings that sprung from the efforts he and Doris put forth in raising a large family. Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter always brought a large crowd to Pilgrim Road in Melrose. Jim and Doris both loved the stories, jokes and pranks that seemed to occur at every gathering and took pride in watching their family grow with the birth of each of their grandchildren.
After many years of renting, Jim and Doris fulfilled a dream and love of Cape Cod and purchased a cottage in Harwich, where they spent the summer months boating, sailing and fishing with their family. As he got older, Jim found great happiness on Cape Cod, mostly as member of Stone Horse Yacht Club, where he socialized and raced a small sailboat with his children and other volunteer crew members. Crew members were treated harshly and often ended up in the water. Although he did not win many races, Jim’s commitment and perseverance in the sport of sailing showed a devotion that few could help but admire.
In his later years of practicing law, Jim’s son Patrick joined his firm as an attorney. His daughter Carol then joined the firm as a paralegal, helping Jim continue practicing into his 90s. Jim eventually narrowed his practice of law. Assigning his litigation, zoning and real estate matters to Patrick, Jim focused almost entirely on the administration of estates. Jim came to relish his visits to the Middlesex Probate Court, where he would socialize and argue with the Court staff, often getting them to agree on his position.
Jim finally left Melrose to become a resident of Brooksby Village in Peabody. He really enjoyed his time at Brooksby, where he reconnected with people he knew from his long, productive life. He also succeeded in recruiting others to join him in his new home. His social life at Brooksby provided him with new unexpected happiness.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted Jim’s life at Brooksby. The isolation caused by the pandemic impaired Jim’s social life and prevented visits from the five children and 11 grandchildren, who all live in New England and continued to visit Jim on a regular basis when he moved to Brooksby. Jim eventually succumbed to the virus.
Big Jim loved his family and friends very much. He was the beloved husband of the late Doris May (O’Connor), formerly of Melrose. Loving father of James D. McAvoy and his wife Pamela of Saco, Maine, and their daughters Alice and Hannah; Daniel J. McAvoy and his wife Candice Gemski of Medfield and their daughter Sophia; Carol E. O’Leary and her husband Jerard of Saugus and their children Madelyn and Matthew; Peter J. McAvoy of Harwich and his children Connor and Kathryn; and Patrick M. McAvoy and his wife Ellen of Melrose and their children Seamus, Griffin, Bridget and Aiden. Jim’s children and grandchildren all loved Jim and will miss him very much.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, friends and family members send donations to the Xaverian Brothers of 4409 Frederick Ave., Baltimore, MD 21229 (telephone 410-644-0034), the order that provided for Jim’s early education at Malden Catholic and for the education of four of his five children.
Due to the current health crisis, funeral services will be private. Arrangements are by the Gately Funeral Home, Melrose. For obituary and to sign online condolence, visit www.gatelyfh.com
