Mr. McCaig served for six years in the US Navy during World War II on the USS North Carolina and the USS Columbia in the Pacific Theater. He served as seaman second class with a certification in hard hat diving and loved his service.

Upon leaving the USN in 1947, Mr. McCaig entered Boston University where he was an undefeated swimmer, varsity oarsman, and skeptical student. It was here that he met and married his wife of 57 years, Miriam Baxter from Stockholm, Me. He graduated in 1950 with a degree in philosophy.

Following employment opportunities in Virginia and New Jersey, John, Miriam and their three children moved to Duxbury where they fell in love with the community and its snug harbor.

McCaig created an international management consulting firm with clients in Europe, South America, and throughout North America. He sold the firm in 1972 and entered Suffolk Law School to earn his LLD and to begin a career in law. With offices in Boston, Cambridge, and Duxbury, he practiced general and criminal law and continued to accept cases including pro bono assignments until this year.

Mr. McCaig received a Master’s Degree in art history at Harvard in 1985 and a Master’s Degree in English from the University of Massachusetts in 1994. A voracious reader with an interest in all subjects, he elected to continue his learning by teaching among other subjects American literature, biology, business, economics, English composition, religion, Shakespeare, and world history at Massasoit College and at both campuses of Quincy College in Plymouth and Quincy. He continued his teaching until January of this year.

Throughout his adult life, Mr. McCaig’s artistic, literary, and social passion were expressed through poetry, painting, woodcarving, metalworking, stonework, sculpture, and prose. Much of this culminated in his murder mystery series, Body at the Bug, Murder in the Fourth of July Parade, and the Howland Axe Murders, published under the nom de plume, Sean Cernach. Mr. McCaig wrote, published, manufactured, and distributed this series, which eclipsed Harry Potter in local sales. He always carried a sketch pad and sketched what he saw, remembered, and felt. He taught himself to play the French horn, piano, and harmonica.

Mr. McCaig was a longtime member of the Corner Stone Masonic Lodge, the Duxbury Yacht Club, and the Union Boat Club. He loved golf, fishing, boating, shooting, horseshoes, all the outdoors, man-made wonders, John Wayne, Monte Python, Bert and I, and his wife ñ not necessarily in that order.

In addition to his wife, Miriam, Mr. McCaig leaves three children: Jean Rummel of Falmouth, Scott McCaig of Carver, Doug McCaig of Hingham; and eight grandchildren.

Friends and acquaintances are invited to a memorial concert at the Ellison Center for the Arts in Duxbury on March 18. The concert will be at 2:30 followed by refreshments.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the South Shore Conservatory of Music, One Conservatory Drive, Hingham, MA 02043.