Longtime Newsday employee James 'Jimmy' McBride dies at 84

Longtime Newsday employee James “Jimmy” McBride loved his job as a platemaker, according to his daughter Eileen Casagrande, who said his 43-year-career with the newspaper began with a little white lie.

“He started at Newsday when he was 16 years old,” said Casagrande, of Pompano Beach, Florida. “He lied about his age to get his job.”

McBride, a devoted husband and father, died of multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, on April 15 at age 84, Casagrande said. He moved from Lake Grove to Delray Beach, Florida, after he retired in 1996, but there was always a place in his heart for Long Island and Newsday, added his daughter.

“He always felt happy at Newsday,” said his wife, Jeanne McBride, of Delray Beach. “He loved that job.”

McBride was born in Manhattan and raised in Franklin Square, Casagrande said. He attended Sewanhaka High School but left before graduation. He began working at Newsday as a platemaker in 1953, a job he would hold for more than four decades.

McBride became deeply involved with the union that represented platemakers — workers who made the plates used to print the newspaper — and other Newsday employees, Teamsters Local 406, an affiliate of the Graphic Communications Conference.

“He enjoyed the bargaining,” his wife said. “He thought things had to be just right for the workers and fought for it.”

McBride wasn’t just devoted to his family and job. He was a guitar player and a singer who started a band that played rock and roll and country music. He loved dining in restaurants. He owned a boat and loved being on the water. He also was an avid golfer and a skilled dancer, his family said.

“He was a great Lindy dancer,” Casagrande said.

After moving to Florida, McBride remained connected to his former Newsday colleagues. Three of his Newsday friends visited him in Delray Beach shortly after McBride made the move, and they wound up purchasing homes in the same complex.

“He stayed in touch with them up until his death,” Casagrande said.

In addition to his wife, Jeanne, and daughter Eileen, McBride is survived by daughter Penny Gray of Fort Mill, South Carolina; and two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

McBride asked his family to cremate his remains and spread his ashes on the ocean.

“He was a great dad and husband,” Casagrande said. “He fought such a great fight with his cancer. He swore he would beat it. He wanted to live.”