Patrick J. Garrity

Patrick J. Garrity, 65, passed away peacefully on May 10, 2021, after a long battle with skin cancer, at the Gosnell House in Scarborough, Maine.

Formerly of Charlottesville, VA, Patrick moved to Maine in 2019. He was born in Nampa, Idaho on November 5, 1955, a date that became easier to remember after the movie, Back to the Future, sent Marty McFly back there in the time-traveling DeLorean.

Patrick grew up in Homedale, Idaho. His father, Walter, was a lawyer and mining engineer. His mother, Ruth, was a nurse. His only sibling, Tim, died at 18, in a car accident, a loss that he felt keenly all his life. Patrick graduated from Homedale High School in 1973, as salutatorian, presaging his life’s work as a scholar. He received his BA from the College of Idaho, where he was student body president, and an MA and PhD in government from the Claremont Graduate School.

Most recently, Patrick was a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Miller Center’s Presidential Recordings Program, at the University of Virginia. He had been a Technical Staff Member and Guest Scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and had taught at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Catholic University, and the Naval Postgraduate School.

At the Miller Center, Patrick was part of the team focusing on the secret White House tapes of President Richard Nixon. He co-authored “The Nixon White House Tapes: SALT, February-May 1971”, and is co-author a book on Nixon and weapons of mass destruction and arms control.

Patrick is also the author of In Search of Monsters to Destroy? American Foreign Policy, Revolution, and Regime Change, 1776-1900; and the co-author of A Sacred Union of Citizens: George Washington’s Farewell Address and the American Character, and You Run the Show or the Show Runs You: Capturing Harold W. Rood’s Strategic Thought, and the forthcoming United and Independent: John Quincy Adams on American Foreign Policy. He published on American national security policy and history in such journals as Survival, Washington Quarterly, Claremont Review, The National Interest, Parameters, Comparative Strategy, and the Journal of Strategic Studies. Recently, as was his lifelong pattern, Patrick lived both in the past --writing extensively on John Quincy Adams—and in the present, with a revival of his website project, “Classics in Strategy and Diplomacy”. (https://classicsofstrategy.com)

During the 16 years that Patrick lived in Charlottesville, he enjoyed walking nature trails around the city and traversing the University of Virginia grounds. In Spring, when the woods are full of new wildlife and trees in bloom, he especially enjoyed the trail at Monticello,

Patrick loved nature. Always, keeping a close eye on the weather, he watched the sun rise and set all over the world.  Using webcams on the Internet, he closely monitored eagle hatchings and celebrated each fledging. He also had a particular interest in watching polar bears, having lived in the Yukon for one very cold year.

Dogs knew they had a friend with Patrick. He loved to indulge dogs with treats, belly rubs, and play time. He became very familiar with the role of guide dogs and was a loyal, generous supporter of The Seeing Eye, inc.

A sports enthusiast, Patrick was a Packers fan and boasted of his investment in the team. Milkshakes and ice cream cone bets went beyond March Madness brackets and extended to all competitions from golf to baseball. His yearly vacation to Idaho was spent almost entirely on the golf courses around Homedale, with his lifelong friend and high school coach, Garry Matlock.

He is survived by numerous cousins, and by his friends and colleagues, who remember his keen intelligence, deep faith, and self-effacing nature. Patrick, you will be greatly missed.

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing.
A. Lincoln

Patrick will be buried in the Mount Cavalry Cemetery, in Nampa, Idaho, beside his parents and brother, and many other extended family members. A funeral mass will be said in July.

Donations can be made to The Seeing Eye in his memory: https://www.seeingeye.org/

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