J. Michael McLaughlin, attorney and women’s lacrosse coach, dies

J. Michael McLaughlin Jr., an attorney and women’s lacrosse coach, died of cancer Wednesday at his Towson home. He was 77.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he was the son of James “Jim” Michael McLaughlin, the former farm team director of the Baltimore Orioles, and Rita Gauvin, a homemaker. His father was the only member of the old St. Louis Browns franchise to move when the team relocated to Baltimore in 1954.

“My father grew up in a baseball and sports environment,” said his son Mark McLaughlin. “Earl Weaver [former Orioles manager] had dinner at our house the night before I was born.”

Mr. McLaughlin spent his childhood near the old Memorial Stadium and later lived in Timonium. He attended parts of spring training with his father and was an unofficial Orioles bat boy.

He attended Loyola Blakefield but moved with his family to Cincinnati when his father temporarily joined the Cincinnati Reds organization. He was a graduate of St. Xavier High School and earned a degree at Xavier University in Cincinnati before graduating from what is now the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.

While in law school he met his future wife, Dr. Judith Vanni McLaughlin, on a blind date.

He practiced law for 45 years in Towson and Essex with Hessian, Iglehart and McLaughlin as well as Romadka, Gontrum and McLaughlin.

“My father’s clients were often those most in need of legal protection and he loved the challenge of finding a legal solution to their problems,” said his son, Mark. “His other great passion was coaching.”

Mr. McLaughlin began by coaching for the School of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on Charles Street and later established the Sky Walkers Lacrosse, a women’s club team based in Baltimore County.

“He felt lacrosse was a way to get a lot of people involved and as a coach, he could be a teacher and have the room and time to help the players in other ways,” said his son. “He wanted to develop self-belief and self-love in his players.

“For more than 20 years my father helped his prep-level players navigate the rocky shoals of life through the medium of a lacrosse stick,” his son said. “Success on the field was fun and my father’s goal was for his players’ success off the field and after graduation.”

Mr. McLaughlin applied some of the same principles serving his clients as he did working with his players.

“One of my father’s more unique talents was the ability to deliver hard truths to his legal clients,” said his son. “In counseling his legal clients and in coaching his players, he understood his responsibility was to present them with not only their strengths but also their weaknesses.

“My father made sure that his clients and players were prepared,” his son said. “His skill lay in the ability to raise these difficult topics without judgment and in a manner that permitted the client or player to tackle them.”

Mr. McLaughlin was interested in the Civil War and World War II. He also was a photographer who shot videos of games he coached.

“He enjoyed the advances in video that allowed him to get a better picture,” said his son. “He was never afraid of new technology.”

While in high school and college, Mr. McLaughlin worked in restaurant kitchens. He later made family meals.

“I loved his birthday — it was a celebration and we as his family could choose a very good meal for that night,” said his son. “He would do the cooking. Crab cakes were one of our requests.”

A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Church of the Nativity at 20 E. Ridgely Road in Timonium.

Survivors include his wife, Dr. Judith Vanni McLaughlin, a pediatric endocrinologist; a son, Mark McLaughlin, of Austin, Texas; two daughters, Meghan Bassmann, of Timonium, and Molly McLaughlin, of Baltimore; three sisters, Katie Thomsen, of Lutherville, Maureen McLaughlin, of Connecticut, and Ann Nastarowicz, of New York; a brother, William McLaughlin, of Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania; and three grandchildren.