Ad agency co-founder dies at 79 McCaffrey former publisher of weekly newspaper in Castine

CASTINE – James J. McCaffrey, a retired advertising agency executive from New York and former publisher of a weekly newspaper in Castine, has died of complications from a stroke. He was 79.

Family and friends gathered for a funeral Mass on Friday at Our Lady of Holy Hope Church in Castine, where McCaffrey and his wife Virginia “Geegee” McCaffrey, lived for years before moving to Blue Hill.

McCaffrey died July 21 at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor a month after suffering the stroke while on a fishing trip in Canada.

Before coming to Maine, McCaffrey was a top advertising executive who in 1962 joined another leading executive in buying a firm that became McCaffrey & McCall, which attracted accounts such as Tiffany and Mercedes. Over his career, McCaffrey worked with clients such as Rolls Royce, J.C. Penney, Bacardi Rum, Pepperidge Farm, Hathaway Shirt and ABC Television.

McCaffrey graduated with honors from Princeton University in 1944 despite being stricken with polio at 19. The disease left him with limited mobility in one leg and no mobility in the other.

He got into advertising after taking a summer job in the mailroom of Young & Rubicam. He was bitten by the bug and decided to forgo Harvard Law School for a career in advertising.

He was chairman of McCaffrey & McCall for a decade before retiring in 1973 at the age of 50 to move to Castine.

McCaffrey became active in community affairs and helped to lead a successful effort to repeal Maine’s state uniform property tax in 1970s. He also helped to found an ambulance corps for the region and worked with editor Hugh Bowden to found a weekly newspaper, the Castine Patriot, in 1980.

McCaffrey quoted from an advertising predecessor in giving his newspaper philosophy in his first column: “Tell the truth. But make the truth exciting. You can’t save souls in an empty church.”

McCaffrey is survived by his wife, a daughter and sister in Maine, and three granddaughters.