Joseph James Mcguire

Services for Joseph J. McGuire will be at 11 a.m., December 17, 2018 in Holy Spirit Church, 7243 E. 10^th Street, Indianapolis.  Visitation will be from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m., Sunday, December 16 at Flanner Buchanan- Broad Ripple, 1305 Broad Ripple Avenue, Indianapolis, and then 9:30 to 11:00 a.m., Monday at Holy Spirit Church.  Interment will be in Dover, Indiana, on December 19.

Mr. McGuire died December 10, 2018.

A registered architect for over 50 years, Mr. McGuire received his architectural degree at the University of Notre Dame du lac, worked at Paul I. Cripe, Inc. and James Associates early in his career, then at Lennox, Matthews, Simmons, and Ford, Inc., as head of the specifications department, secretary/treasurer and partner until the firm merged with Odle/Burke Architects Inc. (now Odle McGuire Shook Corporation) in 1983.  In 1988, Mr. McGuire with his brother Charles established McGuire Architects, Inc., where he continued to practice his profession until retiring at the age of 89.  Mr. McGuire was a member of the design team and produced specifications for many significant local buildings, including the City-County Building, the Indianapolis Conventional Center, the Blue Cross -Blue Shield Tower, the State Life Building, and over 300 schools.

Joseph James McGuire was born in Brazil, Indiana, on November 1, 1919, to the late M. Edward and Blanche T. (Sowar) McGuire.  He graduated from St. Joan of Arc Elementary and Cathedral High Schools in Indianapolis, and was employed by George J. Meyer Co. until he was drafted into the army shortly before the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  He served 4 years, more than 2 1/2 years in the South Pacific as a technical sergeant of ordinance in General Douglas MacArthur’s army, IXth Corps, 41^st Division (Australia, New Guinea, and the Philippine Islands), and at war’s end, was training for the invasion of Japan.  Mr. McGuire joined the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Disabled Veterans.  His disability was tuberculosis contracted from the war, but he was saved by the 1944 discovery of the first effective drug treatment.  He married Veronica Mary Murtaugh of Dover, Indiana, and they had 7 children.  Their union lasted almost 60 years, until her death in 2010.  When his first 6 children were boys, Mr. McGuire became involved in the Boy Scouts of America program for 25 years, 8 years as Scoutmaster.  He said that when he was a boy during the Great Depression, he did not join a troop because he could not afford a uniform.  In 2018, he was bestowed the Friend of Eagle Award by the Crossroads of America Council.  All six of his sons became Eagle Scouts, which was the U.S. national family record in 1978.

Professionally, he was a past president of the Indianapolis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), as well as Fellow, past president and a founder of the local chapter of the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI).  The national CSI organization honored him with its highest award in 2004, Distinguished Member.  At Ball State University’s College of Architecture, a school of study Mr. McGuire helped create, the Indianapolis CSI Chapter sponsors the Joseph J. McGuire Award scholarship.  He was also one of the first adjunct professors at IUPUI, where for decades he taught his specialty of specifications.

Mr. McGuire was architectural consultant to the American Precast Association, was Board Chairman of the Indiana Concrete Technical Certification Committee, and a member of the American Concrete Institute.  He also served as member of the City of Indianapolis Commission for Downtown as it planned the present Circle Center Mall.

He was active in church activities, especially at Holy Cross Parish on the near-eastside of the city.  He coached, was a team manager, and president of the Meadows Little League. Mr. McGuire loved to play table tennis competitively (never “ping pong”), was a CYO City Singles Champion twice in high school, and continued to ambush much younger opponents into his 60’s.

In addition to his wife Veronica, he was preceded in death by his older sister, Mary Elizabeth Carney and his younger brother Charles E. McGuire.  He is survived by his sons and daughter:  David McGuire (Silvana), John McGuire, Patrick McGuire (Patricia), Robert McGuire (Lisa), William McGuire, Charles McGuire (Leslie), and Jeanne Marie McGuire; 12 grandchildren:  Melissa Bartlett (Clinton), Justin McGuire, Lauren McGuire (Andres), Lani McGuire, Shanna McGuire, Siobhan McGuire (Eric), Joseph McGuire, Tierney McGuire-Wilson (Isaac), Julia Peyton McGuire, Matthew McGuire, Zachary McGuire, Nicholas McGuire; and 3 great-grandchildren:  Tadhg McGuire, Clara McGuire, and Connor McGuire.