Malcolm Jones Howard

Malcolm Jones Howard
BATH - Malcolm Jones Howard was gathered to his people on Sunday, 12 January 2025. His uniquely American life tracked the trajectory of this great nation over the same period of time.  
Services, immediately followed by visitation, will be Saturday, January 18, at 11:00 am, at The Memorial Baptist Church in Greenville, North Carolina where Mack previously served as a Deacon and Eloise sang in the choir. Burial will take place at Arlington National Cemetery at a future date. 
Mack was born to Clayton and Thelma Lee Howard of Deep Run, NC in 1939, during the height of the Great Depression. A strong and faithful family with outsized pride for their two sons, the Howards celebrated Mack's admission to the United States Military Academy at West Point. At the Academy, Mack was a lacrosse player on the 1961 National Championship team and known as a loyal classmate and teammate in the class of 1962 "CAN DO".
He reported to Airborne school and then Ranger school; his Ranger testing was interrupted, briefly, for feeding and rest because his Ranger class was slated to be among the first in to fight the Cuban Missile Crisis had the Soviets not turned the ships around.  He earned his Ranger tab and, ultimately, deployed to two combat tours of Vietnam.  He lost three West Point roommates and 12 men under his command fighting for others to be free from communism.  The Army awarded him a Silver Star, two Bronze Stars for Valor, a Purple Heart, and other medals.  
While stationed in Hawaii, he met and married an Air Force BRAT named Eloise Kathleen McGinty. They remained married for 60 years until he passed at home along the Pamlico River's shores.
Mack's military service allowed him admission into Wake Forest Law School more than his academic credentials. There he was elected President of the Student Bar Association while serving in the 82nd Airborne Reserves to make ends meet.  He passed the Bar exam in 1970 and became a Federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of North Carolina.  He next served in the Nixon White House as Deputy Special Counsel to the President during the Watergate controversy.   Following Nixon's resignation, Mack returned to eastern North Carolina and ran a private practice in Greenville from 1974 until President Reagan nominated him to serve as a Federal judge in 1988. Greenville did not have a Federal courthouse at the time, so he got Congress to establish one.  In 2005, and on top of his existing judicial docket, he accepted Chief Justice Rehnquist's appointment to the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance ("FISA").  On the FISA court he tackled legal issues balancing civil rights with the urgency of the war on terror.  He completed FISA service in 2012 and came home with citations from the Attorney General, the CIA, the NSA, and the Director of National Intelligence.  
Like his country, Malcolm Jones Howard survived the Depression, the Cold War, Vietnam, Watergate, and at least the initial stages of the war on terror.  He, in turn, is survived by his brother, Dwight, of Kinston; his wife, Eloise, of Bath; daughter Shannon Howard Janovic and husband, Major General Ryan Janovic, and grandson, Ryan Janovic, Jr. of Fort Eisenhower, Georgia; son, Joshua Brian Howard and wife, Dana, and grandson, Caleb Jones Howard of Raleigh.
The Howard family thanks, in particular, Dr. Robert Dietrich and Ms. Zena Arthur for their vigilant love and compassion during Mack's life. 
In lieu of flowers, please consider memorial contributions to Wounded Warrior Project, PO Box 758516, Topeka, KS 66675.
Arrangements by Wilkerson Funeral Home & Crematory. Online condolences at www.wilkersonfuneralhome.com.