Tim McCarthy, longtime production worker for The Star, dies of COVID-19 at 53
Tim McCarthy, a longtime employee of The Star’s packaging department who helped get the newspaper out to his community every day for decades, died in the hospital Aug. 4 of COVID-19.
McCarthy, 53, started in the newspaper’s mailroom at 16 years old. He earned the title of machine operator not long after joining the company full time, still as a young man, and was remembered as a loyal and hardworking member of the production team until his final workday.
“Tim was a dedicated, lifelong employee who counted many friends at The Star,” Star President and Editor Mike Fannin said. “We are profoundly saddened by his passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
Friends, family and co-workers remembered McCarthy as a man who took great pride in his job. And he quickly forged lasting friendships with those he worked alongside. Those who knew him well called him Puppy Dog, a nickname he earned for his youthful appearance when he first started with the company and for his eagerness to learn new skills.
Kelly Kennedy, The Star’s director of packaging and distribution, began working alongside McCarthy when both were young men. Kennedy always admired the work ethic McCarthy brought to the company, saying he cared greatly about delivering a quality product to The Star’s readers and always took his job seriously.
“He loved what he did, and he grew up here,” Kennedy said.
On an average workday, McCarthy could be found in his navy-blue Star uniform, a name patch on his chest, overseeing Machine No. 3. Freshly printed newspapers were inserted with paper advertisements from local companies on the lengthy machine line under his direction.
Marlene Wilmore, an assistant manager of receiving and distribution, is one of the many friends McCarthy made during his years with the company. He was close friends with her husband and was the best man at their wedding. McCarthy was like a little brother to many of the other workers on the floor, she said. He was one of the longest-serving employees to date in his department.
Work was a second home for McCarthy, complete with a second family. He struck friendships with the part-timers and the old-timers. He was known to hang around in the parking lot after work or to offer a ride home to co-workers without a car of their own. On days when the forecast called for heavy snow, there were occasions when he slept in his car to ensure he clocked in on time, his family recalled.
Born in January 1968, McCarthy lived his whole life in Kansas City. The youngest of four, he hailed from the East Side near Blue Valley Park at 23rd Street and Oakley Avenue, where he grew up and his parents lived many years after.
One day in 1988, the same year he became a full-time Star employee, he met Caroline, a young Olathe woman whom he’d later marry. They were acquainted at a house party near McCarthy’s stomping grounds. Within two weeks, they were a couple. They married Dec. 9, 1989.
The McCarthys soon started a family of their own. They became proud parents of Irish heritage — their own relatives not far removed from the Emerald Isle. Each of their own children received a first name to match the surname: Keegan, Carianne and Madison.
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There was talk of someday making the trip across the pond, a dream that never came true. But practically every St. Patrick’s Day, the McCarthy family ate corned beef and cabbage and drove downtown to watch the parade go by from his company parking space.
As the years passed, and The Star changed, McCarthy was there to bear witness. He saw and adjusted as the production operation grew more computerized. He was there when The Star moved from its historic building on Grand Avenue to its shiny, glass office building at 1601 McGee St.
The Star and its former sister publication, The Kansas City Times, held a special place in McCarthy’s heart, his wife said. He was always an avid reader of the newspaper, she said. And McCarthy loved collecting things, including the copies of the newspaper he helped craft. In a drawer in his home he saved issues heralding the victories of the Royals in the 2015 World Series and the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV. He kept other honors he received from the company marking his years of service.
Dedication to his job was so pronounced that Caroline McCarthy would sometimes tease her husband about how much time he spent at work. Sometimes when he was getting ready to leave, she joked that he was going off to see his girlfriend — to which he replied: “Yeah, and her name is ‘Star.’”
McCarthy was not vaccinated against COVID-19. He experienced major allergic reactions to other vaccines when he was a small child that placed him into a coma for a time, his family said.
When COVID-19 came through Kansas City again, Caroline McCarthy experienced mild symptoms. But McCarthy, who had asthma, was not able to fight it off. Now, the family is adjusting to the shock of losing him so suddenly.
“Whenever I would picture my life, I pictured it with my husband and me being all gray-haired with our grandchildren,” his wife said. “I never pictured being a widow at 54 years old.”
In addition to his wife, McCarthy is survived by three children, Carianne McCarthy, Keegan McCarthy and Madison McCarthy; one granddaughter, Kennedy Marsink; two sisters, Brenda McCarthy-Ohlemeier and Catherine Eib; a brother, George McCarthy Jr.; and cousins, nieces and nephews. A service has yet to be scheduled by the family.
This story was originally published August 10, 2021 at 12:47 PM.
