Morris J. MacGregor, Jr.

Morris Macgregor, a lifelong Washington area resident, died April 14, 2018 of complications from a previous stroke. Mr. MacGregor, who grew up in Silver Spring, MD went to high school at the old St. Paul’s (Mackin). He attended college at The Catholic University of America and completed graduate studies at Catholic, Johns Hopkins, and the University of Paris (Fulbright scholar). Mr. MacGregor was a career historian for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Department of the Army where he rose to the position of acting chief historian. His extensive research resulted in the publication of the book, Integration of the Armed Services, 1940-1965. Mr. MacGregor received a commendation for this work from then Secretary of Defense, Casper Weinberger, and is still considered an authority on the subject. After retiring, he wrote several books about the history of the Catholic community in the Washington area. His A Parish for the Federal City, about St. Patrick’s in Washington is a history not only of the early church, but of the sleepy little town that was early Washington.  Emergence of a Black Catholic Community chronicles the history and importance of St. Augustine’s as “The Mother Church of Black Catholics in Washington.”  His Steadfast in the Faith is a biography of Patrick Cardinal O’Boyle, the first bishop of the independent (from Baltimore) dioceses of Washington. As the overseer of the integration of the Catholic schools in the area, as well as a driving force for Catholic Charities nationally, Cardinal O’Boyle was an important D.C. figure. Morris MacGregor was co-editor and contributor to the quarterly publication of The Catholic Historical Society of Washington.