Born on Dec. 27, 1944, in Salisbury, England, he was the son of Vera (Lane) McGaughey (UK) and father Carl McGaughey (USA), who met during World War II.

Michael and his mother moved to the U.S. when he was 5 years old; old enough to remember the weeks-long boat trip across the Atlantic and arriving at Ellis Island. He spent his formative years in Westchester County, New York and graduated from Rye Neck High School 1962. He then attended Union College, where he met his wife Monica Jean Moore, who was attending SUNY Albany at the time. They were married June 6, 1964, and raised two children, Todd and Heather.

In 1983, Michael moved to his true home, the Adirondacks. He had a very storied career. He worked as a manager at a Macy’s toy department in the 1960s and as the vice president of Mego Corp in New York City in the 1970s. Through the 1980s and 90s he was owner of The Studio on Main Street in Lake Placid, NY. He also worked as the accounting manager at Tubecraft in Plattsburgh and finally retired as CFO of the ADK Mountain Club. He served on the Lake Placid Convention and Visitors Bureau board of directors from 1988 to 1991. He was particularly proud with his work on the first walkway around Mirror Lake and creating the first centralized hotel reservation system in Lake Placid.

Michael was a true Renaissance man. Over the course of his life, he tinkered with technology, photography, terraforming, sailing, scuba diving, architecture, carpentry and curling. In fact, his team, the Lake Placid Curling Club, won a silver medal at the National Senior Games in 2000. He was also an NPR supporter, Monty Python lover, TV connoisseur, chipmunk trainer and avid Giants fan. He was a loyal, logical, sharp-witted man and was considered a deeply sardonic philosopher by his close family and friends. The fact that he died on Feb. 29 on a leap year certainly would have amused him. And he surely would have pointed out that we will only have to observe the anniversary of his death every four years.

Michael is survived by his wife of 59 years, Monica J. McGaughey; his two children, Todd McGaughey of Somers, New York and Heather Morgan of Upper Jay; son-in-law Todd Morgan and his two grandchildren, Michael D. McGaughey and Anya M. Morgan; and his best friend Larry Lebow.

He was predeceased by his mother, Vera Lane McGaughey and father Carl McGaughey.

In lieu of flowers, consider donating to North Country Public Radio: www.northcountrypublicradio.org.

Services will be private and at the convenience of the family.

Services were entrusted to the Heidrick Funeral Home, 48 Court St., Plattsburgh.