By Ron Hayes
BRINY BREEZES — Not long after Paul and Joan Ruopp moved to Briny Breezes in 1993, a stranger knocked on their door, bearing a golf bag and a smile. “I hear you folks are from Ocean Grove,” Paul McCarthy said. “So are we.”
For the next 15 years, the two Pauls played golf almost every week, both in Florida and New Jersey.
“I’m going to miss him terribly,” Ruopp said.
Mr. McCarthy died peacefully Jan. 19 in Scottsdale, Ariz., after a courageous battle with brain cancer. He was 85.
A resident since 1986, Mr. McCarthy found time for more than golf. He was affectionately known as one of “the raisins,” a group of friends who met daily on the beach to chat and work on their tans.
Mr. McCarthy raised the community’s American flag in memory of his twin brother, Jack, a U.S. Navy paratrooper killed in October 1944. Mr. McCarthy was also a veteran of World War II, serving with U.S. Navy in the South Pacific.
“And he was a big blood donor,” said his daughter, Kerry DeVito. “During his lifetime he donated 34.75 gallons of blood to the South Florida Blood Banks.”
Born in Bradley Beach, N.J., Mr. McCarthy retired as an executive in an electrical manufacturing plant. His wife, Claire, passed away in 2005.
In addition to Mrs. DeVito, he is survived by two other daughters, Tara Crewell and Holly McCarthy; two sons, Edward III and David; and nine grandchildren.
A private Mass was held in Scottsdale on Jan. 22. Memorial services will be planned in Briny Breezes and Bradley Beach, N.J., at a later date.
The family asks that donations be made to the Briny Breezes Memorial Fund or the South Florida Blood Bank.
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