James Vincent Maguire, 56, a supervisor at Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute and a crisis negotiations specialist with the Chattanooga Police Department Hostage Negotiation Team, died early Friday morning, Aug. 4, 2006, at his Chattanooga home.
Mr. Maguire graduated from St. Mary’s Boys High School in Boston in 1967, received a bachelor of arts in history from the University of New England in Biddeford, Me., in 1972, and a master’s degree in community counseling from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1989. At UTC, he was elected to the counseling honor society and received an award for outstanding graduate assistant.
Mr. Maguire was a certified crisis intervener and the elected president of the Southeastern Academy of Crisis Interveners. He was certified by the state of Tennessee in forensic services and by the Commonwealth of Kentucky to deal with the cult mentality and deviant behavior. He was a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Academy in hostage negotiation at Quantico, Va., and had additional training in antiterrorism and suicidology.
Mr. Maguire served as a consultant and trainer to numerous local, state, and national agencies in the area of crisis intervention, suicidology and hostage negotiation. He presented a formal paper on "Dealing with Defenestrators" to the American Association of Suicidology at their annual conference in Cambridge, Ma., and co-authored articles that appear in international journals and a compendium of crisis intervention.
Following the completion of his baccalaureate degree, Mr. Maguire was employed by Bowering and Associates in London, England, as a broker-in-training. He learned worldwide insuring techniques to provide high-risk insurance for Lloyd’s of London. He then worked as a reinsurance broker for companies seeking insurance for high-risk indemnities.
During this period he recognized that he needed more "action" and less "office" so he returned to his native state and worked as a police officer in Dennis and Wakefield, Mass. He was next employed by the Bank of Boston as a supervisory security officer where his duties included providing personal protection to the bank president.
A financial investment in the Sandbar Restaurant brought Jim and his wife to Chattanooga in 1985 to assume management of the business. Working in this venue, Jim met and befriended hundreds of people. "Vinnie," as Jim is called by his close friends, was immortalized in the "Ballad of Vinnie and Coro," written and recorded by musician Keith Sherman in his CD "Life: Pure and Simple." Later, a new restaurant and bar named in his honor, "Southside Vinnie’s" used his face with a flowing mustache as its logo.
During this period, Jim was recognized as a natural helping person by a UTC professor and recruited for the master’s program in community counseling. The result of this association was a dual career for Mr. Maguire as a law enforcement officer and a mental health specialist. He was commissioned by the Chattanooga Police Department and worked with the Hostage Negotiation and SWAT teams until his demise. He helped train these teams and responded with them to high crisis calls at all times of day and night in all types of weather in numerous dangerous situations during which many lives were saved. Through he received many commendations and congratulations for his work, his most prized award was the Police Medal for Dedication, Courage and Service, which he received in 1999 as a member of the Hostage Negotiation Team.
Jim loved his wife, family, friends, music and goods times. The fun started when he entered a room. For the last 20 years he maintained a private counseling practice that turned his love of music into an effective helping skill. His knowledge of music was encyclopedic, and he used that as a therapeutic technique. The majority of those who came to him with problems were tough men, not given to chatting about their issues. Most of them had earned post-traumatic stress through military combat or law enforcement service, Jim would say, "I have a song you might like," and play a piece which zeroed in precisely to the mood of the listener. He would follow with an array of songs that would skillfully manipulate the listener to become a talker so that the problem could be identified and resolved.
James Vincent Maguire’s true life and work is aptly described in a brief quotation from John Mills: "Life’s race well run, Life’s work well done, Life’s riches won, Now commeth rest."
He is survived by his loving wife of 23 years, Pat Osgood, of Chattanooga; parents, James and Margaret Carter Maguire, of Boston; sisters, Claire Maguire Winters and husband, Gerald, Joan Maguire Boodry and husband, Thomas, and Maggie Maguire Carlson and husband, Lenny; a host of nieces and nephews, all of Boston. Also surviving are Ralph Osgood Jr. and his wife, Josie, Linda Osgood Crist, Lori-Anne Osgood Creighan and husband, Bob, David Osgood and wife, Debora, and Nancy Osgood Seaward and husband, Paul, all of the Boston area.
A celebration of life service will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Chattanooga Police Shooting Range, Moccasin Bend Road, Chattanooga, TN 37405, with Dalton Roberts officiating.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Jim "Vinnie "Maguire Fund, P.O. Box 2246, Chattanooga, TN 37409. Visit www.lane-coulterchapel. com to send condolences.
The family will receive friends from 4-7 p.m. on Wednesday at Coulter Chapel of Lane Funeral Home, 601 Ashland Terrace.