Daniel J. McCarthy

MARION – Daniel J. McCarthy, 53, of Marion, passed away on June 17, 2025, at Tobey Hospital, Wareham, after an unexpected cardiac event. He was the son of Gerald P. and the late Catherine T. (Carguilo) McCarthy. Dan loved his family, his fiancée Nicole, his dogs Loki, Mazy, and Scully, (Mozi, dec. 3/18/2020), and the life and world he built with so much care. He was born in Barnstable with his twin brother, Dennis, who often joked that Dan was blessed with the humor and Dennis with the looks, but the jury remains out.
He grew up in Dennis alongside a crew of brothers – Michael, Matthew, and James (Jimmy), and of course, Dennis – and at an early age, he was instilled with such qualities of appreciating the value of hard work, loyalty, and integrity. He attended Deerfield Academy, and then graduated from Syracuse University, where he met lifelong friends. He later lived in Barnstable (Cotuit), building his first house, before creating his sanctuary home in Marion in 2017. Nothing made him happier than sitting on the porch with his neighbors and friends to admire the dogs in the yard among the flowers and clover he had planted by design for wildlife and honeybees. Dan worked as a builder in the area for many years, but building was a passion that extended beyond his professional life. He loved gardening and creating many beautiful, intricate landscapes and spaces. He also learned beekeeping, canning, and boating, and he enjoyed hiking, kayaking, and walking the bogs with his dogs. He prized playing trivia, which he usually dominated with his Sandwich buddies, and listening to the Grateful Dead and Yacht Rock. Dan had a remarkable and surprising way of making people belly laugh with his quick wit and one-liners. Despite his humble but handsome, strong exterior, he often showed up to lend a hand without any invitation. He truly built a life that he treasured with loving people around him.
Survivors include his father, Gerald P. McCarthy and his wife, Catherine of Naples, FL; his fiancée, Nicole K. Ouellette of Marion (formerly of Sandwich); his brothers and sister and spouses, Michael of Dennis, Matthew (Carolyn) of Barnstable, Dennis (Jennifer) of Rochester, James (Carriann) of Rochester, and Kate (John) McGann of Plymouth; and many cherished nephews and nieces. He was very fond of his godmother and aunt, Joan, and her husband Walt Alvezi, of Sandwich, and loved his aunts, Maryellen Leonard, of Cotuit, and Maureen McCarthy of Springfield, and his uncles, Robert McCarthy of Springfield, Edward Rose of Quincy, and Nick (Jean) Carguilo of Florida.
Family and friends will celebrate his glorious life at a future date.
Dan deeply believed that rescuing dogs was his purpose in life, forever wishing all dogs left behind in shelters would someday have hope, happiness, and a home. Donations in his memory may be made to Great Dog Rescue of New England, where he adopted Loki, his best friend, or to Sterling Animal Rescue, who found Mazy (pictured), his baby.