Dick McGlinchey co-founder of BluePoint Venture Marketing dies at 60
Richard (Dick) McGlinchey, accomplished marketing professional with a career spanning three decades, died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Lexington on Wednesday night. In addition to recent heart disease, he had been battling a progressive neurological disease, Multiple System Atrophy, for the past four years.
Dick worked with many of the area’s top technology companies and founded three Boston-area marketing and public relations firms, where he applied his intuitive understanding of marketing strategy to help client companies across a variety of sectors.
Dick’s knack for translating complex early technology products into understandable terms catapulted his career from small agencies to the position of Marketing Director at McCormack and Dodge, a pioneering software company. He subsequently founded McGlinchey & Paul; Meridian Technology Marketing; and Bluepoint Venture Marketing – as well as Europlus, a consortium of European marketing firms. From 1999 to 2004, Dick was a Venture Partner at Battery Ventures, where he directed marketing and strategic initiatives for the firm’s $1.8 billion portfolio of early-stage technology companies. Most recently, he served as business advisor and Board member of Isis Biopolymer, a medical device company developing a revolutionary non-invasive drug delivery system.
Dick was well-known in Boston-area technology circles for his dry wit and his penchant for auto racing and ice hockey. As his children grew, his free time centered on them — coaching youth hockey and serving on the Board of the Boston Youth Symphony. All who knew Dick knew his love for Prince Edward Island, where he shared a second home with his beloved family and two pet Corgis.
Throughout his career and personal life, Dick displayed a zest for life and his generous spirit touched many lives. Although he had retired from BluePoint, his guidance and friendship have stayed with the BluePoint team. Friends of Dick will remember him for his uncanny ability to connect with people of all kinds coupled with a certain fearlessness in telling people when their marketing was all wrong. He was a loyal ally and could always be depended on for solid advice and a good laugh. In a characteristically Dick moment, he was once overheard telling a client, “You think we’re good now? You’ll see just how good we are on a bad day”. A bad day, indeed. Dick will certainly be missed by all his former colleagues and friends.
Dick is survived by his wife of 26 years, Sara; daughter, Elizabeth, of Montreal; and son; Andrew, of Lexington. A service will be held later this month in Prince Edward Island, with a Boston area memorial service being planned for this spring. Donations may be made to the National Ataxia Foundation (www.ataxia.org); the Northeast Animal Shelter (northeastanimalshelter.org); or the Friends of Brackley and Covehead Bays (stanhopecovehead.pe.ca/friends).