I was saddened to learn that John McGrath passed away last week after having bravely fought a serious illness for the past couple of years. NACAC members may remember John, or at least know his name, but those of us who served in NACAC leadership remember him both well and fondly.
John served as Deputy CEO for NACAC until the end of October of 2021, bridging the end of Joyce Smith’s tenure and Angel Perez’s first year. John came to NACAC after a distinguished career as a civil servant. He had most recently served in the Department of Education, but had also worked at the Department of Labor, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and on Capitol Hill.
John’s life and work are a reminder of the importance of the civil service, men and women who devote themselves selflessly to public service behind the scenes and make government work. Remembering and appreciating them is especially important in these crazy times when government employees are derided as the “Deep State” by politicians who want to centralize government control in the hands of the Executive Branch and return to the days when government jobs were filled by politically-appointed sycophants. Do we really want a “shallow” state?
I always enjoyed my interactions with John and valued his calmness, his wisdom, and his desire to do what was best for NACAC and its members during turbulent times. In 2013, shortly after John joined NACAC, I was asked to do a presentation for the State and Affiliate leadership on “Successful Transitions in Leadership.” Afterward, he was kind in his remarks about the presentation, stating that he had gotten to know a lot of leaders on the college side of the desk but that he was glad to have a better understanding of what the secondary members of NACAC had to offer. His comments meant a lot.
Later, when NACAC decided to rebrand the Journal of College Admission, John called and asked if I would contribute a back page essay to the inaugural issue of the revamped publication. I was honored to be asked, and especially because he was doing the asking.
Shortly after John’s retirement from NACAC, just as he and his wife were about to celebrate his new freedom by taking a cruise, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. I reached out to him several times to let him know I was thinking about him, and I was always impressed by his strength, bravery, and stoicism in dealing with the bad news. His example is a gift for all of us.
All of us in the profession benefit from the hard work behind the scenes of folks like John McGrath and the other hard-working members of the NACAC staff. Like baseball umpires, we only notice them when something goes wrong or not to our liking. The next time you receive a communication from NACAC, think of John and be thankful that we had the gift of his talents and commitment. And if you attend the NACAC Conference in Baltimore and come across any of the staff members helping with the conference, be sure to thank them for all they do on our behalf.