Joseph Paul McEttrick, Jr., age 80 of Milton, Massachusetts, beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother. He died peacefully on Monday, October 19, 2026 in Milton, Massachusetts. He was born on March 10, 1946 in Boston to the late Joseph Paul McEttrick and Bernice Stapleton McEttrick.

Joseph is survived by Marion Veenstra McEttrick, his spouse of 53 years, his son Joseph Paul McEttrick III, his daughter-in-law Cho Kyung-Eun McEttrick, his son Matthew Patrick McEttrick of Moab, Utah, his grandchildren Alexander and Sophie McEttrick, and his sister Marjorie McEttrick Maloney of Cameron, North Carolina. Joe is fondly remembered by his nieces and nephews Marie Monzel, David McEttrick, Carolyn McEttrick, Michael McEttrick, Lauren Maloney and Bryan Maloney. Joseph was predeceased by his parents and his brothers David and Peter McEttrick.

Joseph was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in Hyde Park. He attended Boston Latin School and then graduated from Boston College High School, Boston College and Boston College Law School. He earned a Masters degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in1987 where he was recognized as a Lucius N. Littauer Fellow.

Joseph was a US Army veteran and served in Vietnam between his first and second year of law school. He was a Professor of Law at Suffolk University Law School for 43 years, where he taught contracts, equity and consumer law courses and was a lifelong member of the Massachusetts Bar Association. Among his more creative endeavors while at the Law School was writing and producing a play about the Boston Massacre Trial to commemorate the opening of Suffolk’s new law school building, involving as actors Hiller J. Zobel and Congressman Joseph Moakley and his many friends, Suffolk Law School graduates and serving justices of the Massachusetts trial courts. The play was performed at Faneuil Hall in Boston.

Under Governor Edward J. King he served as a member of the Massachusetts Small Loans Regulatory Board. He was active in local government in Milton as a Town Meeting Member for 46 years, Chair of the Warrant Committee and member of the School Committee and Select Board.

Joe treasured all the time he was able to spend with his grandchildren, Alexander and Sophie, while they grew up nearby in Milton. Joe loved taking walks and enjoyed nature. He was a lifelong member of the Appalachian Mountain Club, climbing nearly all of the major peaks in the White Mountains of New Hampshire during vacations with his family. With his sons Joe and Matt, he once trekked for days through a bug-infested swamp in search of a nearly mythical wilderness location in the Sandwich Range - known as the Lost Pass.

As a result of studies in the classics during his time as an undergraduate at Boston College and in the Jesuit novitiate, he was fluent in Latin. One of his many stories involved his use of his knowledge of ancient Greek to converse with an elderly patient reading a newspaper written in modern Greek, when he volunteered as an orderly at Boston City Hospital during the 1960s. He is rumored to have taught himself to read by watching news tickers on his family's black and white television, at the age of three. During the early morning hours you could often find Joe watching late-night talk shows - even the late late show. He always spoke fondly of Major, his childhood dog, and in later years he would relax on the couch with Leo - the family cat. As a teenager, he was fascinated with amateur and short-wave radio, and could rattle off morse code without a second thought. He always looked back fondly on a trip to South Korea, where he greatly enjoyed visiting his daughter-in-law's family in Daejeon.

Visiting Hours will be held at Dolan Funeral Home at 460 Granite Avenue, Milton, MA from 6 to 8 pm on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at Our Lady of the Visitation Parish, St. Mary of the Hills Church, 29 St. Mary’s Road, Milton, MA at 10 am on Thursday, November 5, 2026. Interment will be at Milton Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers Joe can be remembered with a contribution to The Cardiovascular Research Foundation using the following link, or to a charity of your choice.

https://www.crf.org/crf/donate/memorial-donation