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My Way - Frank Sinatra My friend, I’ll say it clear. I’ll state my case of which I’m certain.
Family. Faith. Volunteerism. Education. Engineering…and four sports teams defined Robert “Bob” L. McGillicuddy, who passed away peacefully at home on Jan. 23, 2025.
Mr. McGillicuddy leaves behind his best friend and wife of 63 years, Mary McGillicuddy, of Winchester. They have five children: John (Revere), Kathy Bell and her husband Chris (Quincy), and Kara (Winchester); and are predeceased by their two oldest children Mary Teresa (San Francisco) and Bob Jr. (surviving wife Carla Angevine formerly of Hanover).
Bob has five grandchildren who affectionately call him Papa: Christopher (Somerville), and Kailin Bell, Cate, and Hannah Bell all of Quincy; and Matt (Kingston).
And now as tears subside… Bob was born on Feb. 8, 1935, the third of six children, to Cornelius and Margaret in Boston to humble beginnings.
His sisters are Mary Whitney (Milton) and Irene Desharnais (late husband Paul of Jamaica Plain). His three brothers predecease him: Paul (late wife Eileen of New Jersey), Neil II (late wife Betty of Florida), and Kevin (surviving wife Nancy of West Roxbury).
Boston Globe reporter and fellow Roslindale resident Peter Anderson called him “probably the smartest kid in the neighborhood!”
Bob exalted and acclaimed his education to everyone having proudly graduated from Boston Latin High School in 1952 and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (B.S.C.E.) in 1956, and he then earned his master’s degree at Northeastern University (M.S.C.E) in 1963.
Yes, there were times I’m sure you knew when I bit off more than I could chew. But through it all, when there was doubt, I ate it up and spit it out… Married in 1961, Bob and Mary eventually moved their three young children from Lexington because the civil engineer designed and built a monument of his familial devotion and engineering efficiency, planting roots on a Winchester apple orchard (1969) where they would reside for the next 26 years.
I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway. For eight years, Bob patriotically served in the National Guard earning an honorable discharge as first lieutenant with the Army Corps of Engineers in 1967.
He enriched the community by coaching his children’s youth sports; acting as extraordinary minister at St. Eulalia’s Parish; serving as president of the Vinson-Owen Parents Association, which saw the inclusion of a geodesic dome on the playground under his efforts; and serving on the town’s Permanent Building Committee.
In his later years, he and Mary successfully dedicated the library at the new Vinson-Owen School to former principal Clare Corcoran with whom they had worked closely.
He served on the Board of Trustees for the Village Condo where he lived and oversaw the installation of a retention basin after the condo residents had been evacuated for severe flooding.
Finally, as a member of the town’s Disability Commission, Bob implemented a button at the back of Winchester Town Hall granting improved access to those constituents in wheelchairs like himself.
I’ve lived a life that’s full… Toiling over an extraordinary career as a civil engineer for 55 years, Bob designed bridges you have probably traveled over and buildings you have admired. After his contract with the state, he joined Sylvania Electric (1965-69) designing industrial facilities.
He then worked at Anderson-Nichols for 14 years rising to vice president where projects included schools, colleges, waste treatment facilities, a foundry in Ireland and rapid transit in Boston and Atlanta. The latter job earned him national recognition for his Marta (public transit) Aerial Structure over a railroad (Atlanta).
He was selected to appear in the 18th edition of Who’s Who in the East, America’s leading biographical reference publisher.
For what is a man what has he got. If not himself, then he has not. To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels… In 1982, he left Anderson-Nichols to form his own company, Engineering Technology, Inc., which thrived until his retirement (2011). In total, he earned professional engineering licenses in 12 U.S. states. There were a multitude of highlights throughout his career.
I traveled each and every highway… Having gained experience working on the New York state thruway after MIT with his best friend Hal McKittrick, Bob’s everlasting legacy truly comes in the gift of the bridges he imagined. He designed his inaugural two bridges on Interstate 495 spanning the Merrimack River covering both Methuen and Haverhill in the early 60s.
Later, he designed the bridge over the Connecticut River on Route 3 in Glastonbury, Conn. The greatest concentration of his work was about 30 bridges on Route 95 between the 95/128 split near Milton, Mass. to Providence, R.I.
To think I did all that. And may I say not in a shy way… For Dr. An Wang, he was the Engineer of Record for the first two Wang Towers constructed in Lowell. Additionally, he restored Wang Theater in Boston and expanded it so that it could allow for Broadway productions.
And more, much more than this… Bob was committed to beautifying and memorializing the area around North Station when he headed the North Station Mercantile’s Association. Under his tutelage, the area between Canal, Market, Merrimac, and Causeway Streets in North Station was commemorated as the (Charles) Bulfinch Triangle named for the architect of the Massachusetts State House.
He also secured the rights for what would become the Tip O’Neill Federal Building setting the precedent for zoning that the subsequent structures would follow. Furthermore, he personally selected the exceptionally lovely trees that still line Canal Street to this day.
I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption… In the late 70s, a section of railroad track was being removed along Causeway Street, including the Switch Tower at the intersection of Washington and Causeway Streets. Bob was instrumental in saving the Switch Tower from the scrap heap and had it sent to the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport where it still resides today!
Regrets, I’ve had a few but then again too few to mention… One project charged him with hanging artwork in the Government Center “T” Station. He wanted to enshrine our family in the space, so the mural artist incorporated a picture of us in the mural, which stayed until the station was renovated in the past decade.
I faced it all and I stood tall… From the original eight, the McGillicuddy family has proliferated into 145 members, many of whom were the recipients of Bob’s professional engineering advice and vision. Their homes are living testaments to his love, exceptional knowledge, and innate protectiveness.
And more, much more than this… Honoring his humble beginnings, the later projects he found most rewarding were his work in renovating many local health centers in impoverished areas (Boston and Lawrence) in addition to the Southwest Community Health Center in Bridgeport, Conn.
I find it all so amusing… Bob navigated the ups and downs of life with the signature McGillicuddy dry sense of humor that he retained in the darkest of circumstances through the very end.
I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried… The demands of his job and commitments to the community never prevented him from being present and just being Dad and Bob, devout husband at home. He came home promptly each work night at 6:30 pm, and the whole family had dinner.
If there were a math problem at school, he would pull out the chalkboard and help you solve it. At bedtime, he read each one of us to sleep.
Our greatest moments came in the sports arena whether it was his attending those endless swim meets or generously treating us to professional games or watching sports with us on school nights that exempted us from our 6 p.m. no TV curfew.
His passion for the Celtics, Patriots, Red Sox, and Bruins passed through our bloodline. Bob attended at least one Celtics game in each of the last 71 years, and he celebrated that tradition with Bobby, John, Chris Bell, Christopher, and Matt for “Boys Night Out” usually around his birthday.
The perennial #girlsdad showed me how to score baseball which would eventually become my profession, and he inspired the gifted athletes that Kathy (and Bobby) turned out to be.
Blessed with five grandchildren, Bob and Mary cared for their grandkids weekly. His steady influence resulted in “digger” as one of their first words because Papa always pointed out the construction sites. He also taught them to count by counting the cranes in the “Big Dig” era in Boston.
No memory will be savored more though than their Papa taking them to Dunkin Donuts in the morning for a tasty “round” meal.
I’ve had my fill, my share of losing… Bob and Mary endured the unspeakable tragedies of losing Mary Teresa and Bobby Jr. in a somber seven-month period. Their faith never wavered. It lessens our sorrow now to know that he has been reunited with his beautiful children and with so many other family members who will welcome him home.
The record shows; I took the blows. And did it MY WAY! Visitation hours are Friday, Feb. 7, from 3–7 p.m. at Lane Funeral Home, 760 Main St., Winchester.
Relatives and friends are welcome to greet the family at the funeral home on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 11 a.m. followed by Celebration of Life at noon at St. Eulalia’s Church, 50 Ridge St., Winchester.
The service can also be streamed.
In lieu of flowers, kindly consider donating to the Bob McGillicuddy (Jr.) Book Award that is presented to a Quincy and North Quincy High School senior swimmer or diver every Spring at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/bob-mcgillicuddy-swim-book-award
