Carl McGrew 1957-2022

Founding Board Member Carl McGrew passed away in Hospital on Monday May 16th. Carl had major surgery in early April yet continued health complications meant that this time, a recovery was not to be.

The NorCal SCI Organization are devastated with this news yet will continue their mission to support the SCI Community in Northern California, the board is committed to carry on Carl’s work which we believe is what he would have wished us to do.

In 2012, Carl was 55 when an operation to remove a blood clot on his spinal cord left him with a T8 complete SCI. Carl received his bachelor’s degree from U.C. Berkeley in 1979 and joined Santa Clara County Pretrial Services in 1981 while obtaining his Juris Doctorate from Santa Clara University. He was a supervisor at Pretrial Services from 1999 until his retirement at the end of 2016.  

After his injury, Carl lived in the same house with his wife, dog and cat in San Jose and continued to do nearly everything he did prior to his injury, just a little differently. Carl went through his rehab at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and he joined their SCI Peer Support program in 2014.  "I love to come back to the meetings not only to share my own experience in solving problems with the patients but I continue to learn from both the peers and the patients in finding answers to the challenges I face in my continued recovery."