televised charity preview at the Detroit Auto Show. McCarthy was proud of his Irish-American heritage. One highlight of each year was McCarthy's annual St. Patrick's Day broadcast, where he would invite local celebrities and politicians to drop by. The event began in the lobby of WJR at the Fisher Building and blossomed, until one thousand invitees showed up at the Fox Theatre in 1995. The broadcast is still a major event on WJR. Illness and death By 1995, McCarthy had dropped the "Focus" interview program from his duties to concentrate on the morning show. He had been in talks to take his program into national syndication through a production company he started with his producer, Michael Patrick Shiels. But in the early summer of that year, McCarthy began feeling rundown and tired. He had lost color in his face and was clearing his throat frequently. He also began experiencing bloody gums and nosebleeds. He sought medical help after he was too tired to go sailing over the Fourth of July weekend. Blood tests showed that McCarthy had a lack of platelets, and he was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a condition that frequently develops into leukemia. McCarthy continued to host his show for a short time, but he became more absent, until he left the air completely at the end of July. His plight became public, and soon bone marrow drives were held all over the Detroit area where thousands of people took tests in hope that their bone marrow would help McCarthy recover. In August, McCarthy flew to New York City where he was supposed to meet with doctors at the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, but his illness had become so severe that he was admitted. J.P. McCarthy died of pneumonia in his sleep on the afternoon of August 16, 1995, with his entire family at his bedside. He was 62. The end Grief swept his fans in the Detroit area; McCarthy's remains were flown back to Detroit and the Detroit media gave the story extensive coverage. Two days after McCarthy's death, most radio stations in Detroit and Windsor, Ontario observed a simultaneous one minute of silence as a tribute to the local legend. His funeral was held with more than a thousand mourners in attendance at St. Hugo of the Hills Catholic Church in Bloomfield Hills. McCarthy was buried on August 19 at White Chapel Cemetery in Troy, MI. References