Mary Rose McCarty Griffin, who founded The Griffin Report of the Northeast alongside her husband, the late John H. Griffin, died Oct. 14, 2024, at her home in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts, at age 90.
Born on Jan. 6, 1934, in Waltham, Massachusetts, she was the daughter of the late Mary and Raymond McCarty. According to her obituary, Mrs. Griffin graduated from Boston College School of Nursing in 1955 and married her husband in 1956. They had seven children: Elisabeth (Lisa), John (Jack), Thomas, Kevin, Carolyn, Mary Ellen (Mel) and the late Stephen Griffin. The couple founded The Griffin Report of the Northeast in 1966, renting an office in the Back Bay section of Boston.
Some of the children shared memories of those early days. Tom Griffin recalled that the business was a family affair.
“I remember mother clearing the table and pitching in. In the early years, Dad would bring home these large dot matrix printouts of names and addresses. I think they were data about retailers. And he’d go through these, categorizing them by zip code. He got to a point where he could tell you the zip for every town in New England. Sometimes she’d help him as they’d pore over these lists. It took months to do what ChatGPT would do now in 60 seconds.
“There were also countless conventions and rubber chicken dinners that she accompanied him on. And I think if you could dig up an old magazine, you’d find her name on it as treasurer,” he said.
Jack Griffin remembered several moves for the family in the early days when his father worked for Grocer Graphic. He said his mother made the moves “with a gaggle of kids.”
She helped with the startup of The Griffin Report, assembling the mailing list, entertaining prospective advertisers and investors and going to conventions, all while raising their seven children.
“She helped plan the launch party for the first issue of The Griffin Report, which happened at Anthony’s Pier IV in spring 1966. Dad built the business on relationships, and Mum was by his side at dinners, conventions, parties, etc.”
Lisa Griffin also recalled the various moves the family made and her mother’s unwavering support of her father’s dream.
“I can’t imagine any other wife or mother that would gracefully move her pregnant self and her family four times in one calendar year and then support her husband in quitting his job and having her fifth baby, all the while believing in him and living often hand to mouth,” she said.
She remembered the strain starting the new business put on the family and shared some of the sacrifices her mother made to support the venture.
“Dad took a huge risk, but she encouraged him every step. She was the treasurer for a while, and when we move to Townsend Road, the dining room table was stacked with hand-typed lists that she and dad would pore over whatever time he got home. There was no money then. I always believed we were really poor growing up.”
She said there wouldn’t have been a Griffin Publishing Co. without Mrs. Griffin, and her father recognized that fact.
“I remember reading many times his comments about Mum holding down the fort, and what it took for him, and in turn for Mum. There were huge sacrifices she made. That’s when she learned to sew and knit because we couldn’t afford to clothe all of us. It’s also why she always knew how to make a meal go far. Dad was very clear that she deserved the credit because The Griffin Report wouldn’t exist if not for Mum.”
According to her obituary, Mrs. Griffin was a longtime member of Our Lady of the Cape Church in Cape Cod. She was a founding trustee of the Family Pantry of Cape Cod and served on the Dennis Board of Health for 18 years. She also was a volunteer hospice nurse.
In addition to her children, immediate survivors include 14 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. A funeral Mass was held Oct. 22 at Saint Pius X Church in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts. Burial followed in Oak Ridge Cemetery in South Dennis.
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