Thomas Patrick McCole, 84, engineer who led Polaroid lab
Thomas Patrick "Paddy" McCole, an experimental engineer and director of the experimental film laboratory at Polaroid, died Tuesday at Bourne Manor Extended Care Facility. He was 84.
Mr. McCole started working with Polaroid in the late 1940s, holding several positions until he retired in 1986. During his tenure, he worked directly with Polaroid founder Edwin Land in Waltham and Cambridge, eventually being appointed to run the lab. Polaroid's former director of marketing Albert Hyland described Mr. McCole as a "very clever engineer." Hyland said Mr. McCole put together manufacturing processes for complicated photographic materials, including the Essex-70.
"Because he worked directly for Edwin Land and had to go to different parts of the company to carry out improvements and changes to both materials and manufacturing techniques, people knew he represented the president . . . and there was a certain amount of respect associated with that," said Hyland, who worked with Mr. McCole for 25 years.
Mr. McCole, formerly of South Boston, died Tuesday morning of Parkinson's disease and Lewy body disease, an illness similar to Alzheimer's disease.
Mr. McCole was born in Ireland but moved to South Boston with his parents and siblings in 1924 when he was an infant.
He attended Nazareth School and English High School and earned a degree in engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology. After graduation, he began his long career with Polaroid. During one trip, he traveled to the Vatican, where he took large pictures of the Sistine Chapel with an experimental camera as part of the Polaroid Replica Process. The photographs of the Sistine Chapel were approximately 2.5 by 6 feet, Hyland said.
His brother, Dan of South Boston, recalled Mr. McCole's great clothes and style in high school.
"It was always great for me as a younger brother that he always dressed well, because I could borrow his clothes without him knowing," he said.
He also said that while Mr. McCole was quiet, he had a great sense of humor.
"He was cool before people knew what that word meant," McCole said.
Before Mr. McCole moved to Natick in 1960, he coached the City Point Redskins, a football club in South Boston. A natural athlete, Mr. McCole turned to coaching after tuberculosis prevented him from playing football and baseball. From the age of 17, Mr. McCole only had one lung because of the illness, his family said.
Paul O'Donnell of Falmouth, a longtime friend of the family, was coached by Mr. McCole when he was younger. O'Donnell said Mr. McCole was "cool" even then.
"He was the epitome of cool, just one of those guys that everybody admired," O'Donnell said. As a coach, O'Donnell said, "he was an inspiration and a great leader to a lot of young guys."
After retirement, Mr. McCole moved to Sandwich, where he enjoyed woodworking and making craft antique model cars, boats, and toys for his grandchildren.
In addition to his brother, Mr. McCole leaves his wife, Virginia (Davis) of Sandwich; two daughters, Patty Ann McNamara of St. Louis and Kathy Eidam of Attleboro; a son, Thomas of Peterborough, N.H.; a sister, Margaret Reardon of Essex Junction, Vt., another brother, Robert C. of Quincy; and four grandchildren.
A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Saturday in Corpus Christi Church in Sandwich.
