WILLIAM J. MCCARTHY / ATTORNEY

Isle lawyer kept
his finger stirring
the political pot

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By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

Former Hawaii attorney William J. "Bill" McCarthy Jr., 66, died Feb. 17 in Kirkland, Wash., after battling with lung cancer and other health problems.

"He was a mover and a shaker, a very bright young attorney," said his friend Ray Sweeney. "He showed up here from the mainland and worked his way up through the community and was very involved with the Democratic Party on the Big Island. It was a tough time for him in the law few years."

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Fordham Law School, McCarthy lived in Hawaii from 1965 to 1999, marrying Lynn J. Ashman in 1968. He worked for Amfac as a general counsel and an assistant corporate secretary until 1969, when he became project manager for the development of Princeville on Kauai.

In 1971 he opened a private law and real estate practice on Kauai and in 1976 moved to the Big Island. As a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in New York in 1976 McCarthy unsuccessfully tried to get the party to consider Daniel Inouye as a vice presidential candidate. He also filed to run for lieutenant governor and as a delegate to the Hawaii Constitutional Convention in 1978.

He is survived by a sister, Roselyn Borrosso of Moriches, N.Y., a daughter, Megan Nelson, sons Michael and Keoki, and two grandchildren, all of whom live in the Seattle area. Private services will be held, with ashes to be scattered off the Big Island in September.

Donations in McCarthy's memory may be made to the Institute for Human Services in Honolulu.