Brian Michael McCarty
Brian Michael McCarty, 51, of Bakersfield, CA, died after a heart attack on Sunday, March 4, 2018. Brian is survived by his wife of 21 years, Karin Sylvester McCarty, son Connor James McCarty, and daughter Caroline Grace McCarty, all from Bakersfield; sisters Christy Hastings, Portland, OR, and Suzy Petersen (Tom), Fort Washington, WI; foster-sister Laura Albers and her family; and other numerous loving family members and dear friends.
Born in Phoenix, Arizona, to John and Nancy (LeGrand) McCarty, Brian graduated from San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara, in 1984, and from the U.S. Army Military Police Investigator School, Fort McClellan, in 1990. He received his Associate of Arts degree from Grossmont College, El Cajon, in 2001. He was employed by RenovateAmerica in the renewable energy and water products division, a position that combined his significant salesmanship skills and his commitment to sustainable building.
Brian served with the U.S. Army as a Military Police Investigator, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; an Administration Assistant with the 42nd Military Police Group in Mannheim, Germany; and a Senior Military Police Customs Inspector, Wildflecken, Germany.
Brian was an avid reader, film aficionado, and a student of American presidential history. His enthusiasm for sports, especially UCLA football, was legendary, and he was a fixture on Bruin Report Online. During his teenage years and beyond, Alateen was an important part of his life that helped shape him into the loving, giving, and loyal adult he became. A gifted raconteur, Brian used his knowledge of history, popular culture, politics, and sports to teach his children to be better listeners, skeptical media consumers, and, most of all, more compassionate, loyal, and spirited human beings. His empathy was immense, especially for the less fortunate.
Brian prized family and friends above all else and was a fiercely proud and devoted father and husband. He and his wife, Karin shared a special, decades-long bond, having met when they were both eighteen.
Honoring Brian’s generous wish, his final act of kindness was to give the gift of life through organ and tissue donation.
Private funeral services were held Saturday, March 17, 2018, at San Roque Catholic Church, Santa Barbara, with Fr. Noel Barber officiating. To recognize his belief in the importance of animal rescue, memorial contributions may be made to Southern California Labrador Retriever Rescue (http:// www.sclrr.org)