A man of ‘devotion and good counsel’: Early Sea Pines executive dies at 87

John W. McGrath, a Yale Law School classmate of Charles E. Fraser who became an unsung contributor the early development of Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island, has died.

McGrath, 87, of Honolulu, died June 27, following a brief illness, according to an obituary in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

“He was the unsung guy,” said David Pearson, who was on a small team of young executives with McGrath at Sea Pines in the early 1960s.

“He probably did more to create the Sea Pines success but got the least credit for it because when the fame started to build, he was gone.”

McGrath, a tall and handsome single man who had been a standout athlete at Amherst College, was enticed to Sea Pines by Fraser when there was little for Fraser to sell but a vision.

McGrath from the outset tried to justify the economics of Fraser’s dream to develop 5,000 acres on the southern tip of the island. It had just gotten its first bridge, it did not yet have telephone service and there was nothing much for McGrath to lean on for statistics than the 1950 census.

McGrath worked for another developer but returned to Sea Pines from 1959 to 1963, most of it as executive vice president.

“Upon John’s return to Sea Pines, he thoroughly analyzed the situation and offered a candid assessment to (Fraser) that ‘you’ve got a really big problem; you don’t have any money,’ ” says a 2016 book about McGrath’s career by Mark Brian Glick called “Amongst the Mythmakers.”

“He immediately realized that the lack of project financing and venture capital greatly limited the pace in which the development could grow. Undaunted, (Fraser) challenged John to seek capital. ‘Well, go out and find some’ was (Fraser’s) curt reply, and soon he was put in charge of developing the first golf course.”

McGrath sought to bring financial accountability to the company. Pearson says, for example, that McGrath once asked to see the marketing plan when one did not exist.

McGrath put together the first successful big loan application for Sea Pines, which the book says was $1 million from Bessemer Securities.

Pearson said McGrath bought an old army boat so Sea Pines could show potential property owners around and take them fishing.

He created a grass nursery to save money in sprigging the first two golf courses.

And he was part of staging the famous Saturday Evening Post photograph of Fraser in a Brooks Brothers suit and umbrella appearing to walk a giant alligator.

It was a publicity coup for Sea Pines and Hilton Head that became so iconic that it is depicted in a statue of the later Charles Fraser in a public park on Hilton Head.

Fraser expressed his appreciation for McGrath’s role in helping his dream come to life.

In a letter to McGrath’s parents that is quoted in “Amongst the Mythmakers,” Fraser writes: “For my part, John’s contribution was so great to the company during that period that its existence today would be unlikely, had he not brought to me and the company the skill, devotion, and good counsel that lies in him ... .”

McGrath’s obituary says he “was a pioneer in resort development and golf course design in association with some of the greatest figures of the 20th century.”

In a career that saw him directly involved in 38 resort development projects and the design, construction, planning or acquisition of 13 golf courses, McGrath also worked with Laurance Rockefeller and Arnold Palmer.

According to his obituary, McGrath negotiated Palmer’s purchase of the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando. And McGrath’s company, Course Design, formed an association with Palmer that helped make him a leading figure in golf course design.

McGrath, who was one of the speakers at Fraser’s funeral in 2002, received a lifetime honorary membership from the Urban Land Institute in recognition of his accomplishments in resort development and golf course design.

This story was originally published July 3, 2017 at 12:50 PM with the headline "A man of ‘devotion and good counsel’: Early Sea Pines executive dies at 87."