Former Georgetown University Law Center Dean David J. McCarthy Jr. (LAW ’60, LAW ’62, H ’83) died Oct. 1 at the age of 85.

McCarthy approached his interpersonal relationships with kindness and playfulness, according to Wallace Mlyniec (LAW ’70), a professor at Georgetown Law.

“David had a unique ability to combine serious academic and administrative understanding with a gentle touch,” Mlyniec said in an interview with The Hoya. “This is a guy who would always advise his hiring committees to only hire someone who was smarter than they were. But at the same time, he was the guy who was gonna play Santa Claus at the Christmas party for the little kids.”

After receiving his Juris Doctor and Master of Laws degrees from Georgetown Law, McCarthy clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Joining the Georgetown Law faculty in 1965, McCarthy served as a professor of topics including property law and state taxation law before he served as assistant and associate dean. McCarthy was ultimately appointed to the role of dean and executive vice president for law center affairs in 1975, running the entire Law Center until 1983.

McCarthy’s presence was felt in all corners of Georgetown Law, from his role in the faculty hiring process to his individual interactions with students, according to William Treanor, the current dean and vice president of Georgetown Law.

“He was very devoted to building a great faculty and was the dean during the period in which many of the giants of Georgetown Law were hired,” Treanor said in an interview with The Hoya. “He was a great teacher, a real expert in local government law and deeply committed to the Georgetown community.”

As head of Georgetown Law for eight years, McCarthy led the program through a period of great change and expansion: the growth of its physical campus, a new administrative structure, additional clinical program offerings and more faculty to fill new openings.

McCarthy took Georgetown Law from its original faculty-centered, conservative pedagogy to a place where it accounted for the diverse needs of students, according to Daniel Ernst, a professor of legal history at Georgetown Law.

“He moved Georgetown Law from a very stodgy program, with students coming in taking their lectures, to a much more student life experience,” Ernst said in an interview with The Hoya. “He was able to do that because he understood how predominantly Catholic and male faculty thought and was also committed to moving the school forward.”

McCarthy’s gregarious personality and experience as a law student himself gained him a rare amount of respect and admiration from his students, according to Ernst.

“There’s this copy of a student newspaper I’m staring at when he was stepping down as the associate dean, and all these students are submitting a petition asking him not to resign,” Ernst said. “That’s not normally what happens when associate deans resign. He was a law student at Georgetown, so he really identified with law students. When students came up with things that needed to be addressed, he was always on board with it.”

After his tenure as dean ended in 1983, McCarthy remained with Georgetown Law, serving as a professor in the school as well as a member of the Law Center’s Board of Visitors, a group of people from the public and private sectors that advises the dean of Georgetown Law.

McCarthy additionally served in various capacities for committees with the American Law Institute, American Bar Institute, Association of American Law Schools, Jesuit International Volunteers, the D.C. Pretrial Services Agency and the Citizens Choice National Commission on the IRS and the Individual Taxpayer.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, McCarthy was also known for his sense of humor, even during otherwise serious situations, according to Mlyniec.

“Dave was actually a very funny guy,” Mlyniec said. “I was debating him on a question on a panel, and at one point, I looked at the audience and said, ‘This is one of the few times I’ve ever totally agreed with Dave McCarthy,’ and without missing a beat, he said, ‘Well, in that case, we must be wrong.’ He was that kind of guy who you could disagree with, and it had no effect on the friendship that you had or your respect for him.”

After retiring, he and his wife, Mary McCarthy (NUR ’60) moved to Charlottesville, Va., and became involved with learning communities associated with the University of Virginia.

Despite the move, McCarthy retained ties to Georgetown through his four daughters, three of whom received undergraduate degrees from Georgetown University and a fourth who worked at Georgetown Law for several years. 

McCarthy leaves behind fond memories in the minds of friends, colleagues and family, according to Mlyniec.

“He was absolutely beloved,” Mlyniec said. “If you are a dean, not everyone is going to love you, but I can honestly say I don’t think there was a person on the faculty or in his administration that would not tell you that they love Dave McCarthy. He was just that kind of guy.”