James Gray McGhee was born Dec. 16,
1961, at Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts, and died July 13,
1998, in Tampa. He leaves behind his companion and best friend of
eight years, Ron Reason, St. Petersburg; his mother, June McGhee of
High Point, N.C.; his father and stepmother, Jim and Sandy McGhee of
Thomasville, N.C.; three brothers, Russ, Chris and Michael; "parents
in law" Chuck and Carolyn Reason; "sisters in law" Carrie LaFountain
and Kellie Demchak and their families; a miniature schnauzer,
Squirt, and many friends. He grew up in North Carolina and
attended UNC/Charlotte (1980-1982) before moving to Florida to study
at the Ringling School of Art and Design, from which he graduated
with honors. He was a junior editor of the Ringling Magazine,
two-time recipient of the Merit Scholarship, and three-time
recipient of the Ringling Gold Seal Award, Junior/Senior Show.
After college Gray worked at Tampa General Hospital as an artist in
the marketing department, then joined the staff of the St.
Petersburg Times, where he worked for more than 10 years. Most
recently he served as Art Director in the Advertising Department for
two years. His design work has won a number of Gold and Silver Addy
awards, and among his best-loved works were posters for events such
as the Clearwater Jazz Holiday. He was known at work for going far
beyond the call of duty to share his creative skills, his wealth of
knowledge about computer hardware and software, and a ready
smile.
In the early '90s he served as an Adjunct Instructor at
the University of South Florida in Tampa, where he taught
advertising design for four semesters; he was a fantastic cook who
rejoiced in revising high-fat recipes down to more healthful
alternatives; he was vice president of NothinÍ but Net, his stock
investment club (always an eager learner and teacher about the
subject matter); he was a "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" buff and loved
to travel to new places. (See slide
show for some favorite vacation photos.) Until being diagnosed
with leukemia in late May, 1998, he was a fitness fanatic who had
worked out four or five times a week at the City Gym in St. Pete,
and also swam several times a week Ü he had worked his way up to 100
laps a day at the North Shore Pool near his house.
Before
succumbing to complications from the treatment of leukemia,
he had previously survived falling out of the back of his family's
speeding station wagon as a child. And, on Nov. 13, 1996, he
survived a shoot-out by masked gunmen at the Publix supermarket near
his home, where he had gone to return some stone crab claws that
didn't seem too fresh. (An account in the St. Pete Times two
days later pointed out that Gray was perusing "Food and Wine"
magazine when the shots rang out, wounding three.)
