MCCARTHY

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Tom McCarthy, 54, of Walnut Creek, Calif., loving husband, father and brother to his family and longtime friend and respected colleague to many at Bechtel, passed away Dec. 11, 2011, following complications after surgery.

His Bechtel career spanned nearly 30 years and countless achievements. He worked in construction before joining the company’s civil infrastructure business, which took him to assignments in San Francisco, Hong Kong, and London. In Hong Kong, he served as project manager for a multi-billion-dollar rail project connecting Hong Kong with China. He returned to San Francisco and became president of Bechtel’s U.S. infrastructure company. In the UK, he led two huge rail projects, including the world’s largest, most complex rail program ever undertaken on an operating railway. In 2002, he was elected a senior vice president and went on to head Bechtel’s global rail business. The responsibilities with which he was entrusted were a testament to his exceptionally sound business judgment and decision-making ability and his reputation for teamwork and quality.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting at Loyola University in New Orleans and an MBA from the University of South Carolina. His unequivocal sincerity, commitment and positive contributions will be sorely missed but will live on in everyone he touched.

He is survived by his wife, Terri, and his daughter, Megan, of Walnut Creek, twin sister, Carol McCarthy of Alexandria, Va., brother, Kevin McCarthy, of New Market, Md., and two additional sisters, Peggy (Tommy) Hayden of Silver Spring, Md., and Maureen McCarthy of Deale, Md. He is also survived by many loving nieces, nephews, sisters- and brothers-in-law and other relatives in Maryland, Virginia and Louisiana and many friends.

In addition to his parents, William and Patricia McCarthy, one brother, Bill McCarthy, preceded Tom in death.