John Anthony McColgan

John McColgan, a retired international executive for Westinghouse, had such a commanding personality that he was affectionately known as “Chief” by his five grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. The Baltimore native and Howard County resident died Saturday afternoon of pneumonia. He would have been 90 next month.
The son of Arthur, a realtor, and Frances, a homemaker, was raised in Baltimore along with eight siblings. He graduated from Mount Saint Joseph and what is now Towson University. He pulled off a noted prank while an undergraduate student at Towson, climbing into the school’s bell tower to make it strike 13 times at midnight.

The longtime Ellicott City resident met his wife Patricia Jackson McColgan, a Princeton, New Jersey, native, at Towson and the two were married for 64 years, raising three children while sharing a life of travel and international adventure.

"My father had an amazing appetite and lifelong love of learning and teaching in all aspects of daily life,” said son Timothy McColgan of West Palm Beach, Florida.  “He loved the excitement and adventure of travel while embracing and understanding other world cultures.  My father had a gift for teaching and sharing his knowledge of the world with everyone around him."

He began his professional career as a summer intern at Westinghouse and rose to supervise the company’s Peace Corps education program in Micronesia. He also worked in international marketing for Westinghouse in Iran and Ireland before starting his own consulting business.

“He was a life-long learner who could speak intelligently on a wide range of topics,’’ said a nephew Joseph Jackson of Baldwin. “He was a large presence, who innately knew how to present in any moment.”

After retiring in 1990, he served as an adjunct business professor at the University of Baltimore.

Mr. McColgan was a season-ticket holder for Baltimore’s professional football franchises as well as University of Maryland basketball. He was an avid gardener, who loved sharing his bounty of summer vegetables when he figured out a way to contain the ground hogs and deer at his Centennial Lane home.

He was also a lover of ice cream, which dated back to a summer college job as a Good Humor man.

Niece Mary Therese Lutz of Hanover, Pennsylvania, recalled him making homemade ice cream for his children and numerous nieces and nephews, using fresh peaches and strawberries, while allowing the kids to turn the hand crank.

He carried on his special approach with children to the next generation, Lutz recalled.

“He loved his grandkids,” Lutz said. “He enjoyed taking them shopping for school supplies each year when the school year was approaching.”

In addition to his wife, Mr. McColgan is survived by his son, Timothy McColgan (Michele) of West Palm Beach, Florida, and daughter, Amy Page (Thomas) of Marriottsville. He is also survived by son-in-law, R. Michael Howard of Ellicott City, and five grandchildren, Timothy Spence McColgan of West Palm Beach, Fallon Laque of Severna Park, Megan Blanco of Ellicott City, Robert Howard of Ellicott City and Colin Howard of Ellicott City. He had one great grand daughter, Anna Page Blanco of Ellicott City. He is also survived by younger sister Patricia McGarrity of Baltimore. Mr. McColgan was predeceased by a daughter, Mary Frances McColgan Howard, in 2018.
 
 
A viewing will be held Tuesday, Oct. 20 from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. at Witzke’s Family Funeral Home, 4112 Old Columbia Pike, Ellicott City Md., 21403. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Mark's Catholic Church in Catonsville at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 21.

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