David McCarthy
- Lieutenant-Colonel (retired)
- US Marine Corp.
- Public Service
David McCarthy was born and raised in New York. After earning Baccalaureate degrees in Political Science and Criminal Justice from Long Island University, David became a Police Officer in New York. While working on his master’s degree in Criminal Justice he took a leave of absence from the Police Department and attended United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate School (OCS), and after graduation from OCS returned to the Police Department. After receiving his Master’s degree David resigned from the Police Department and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Marine Corps. Because of his law enforcement background, David filled a variety of assignments with Marine Corps military police, and also served as a detachment commander with a Marine Expeditionary Unit.
David left active duty to attend Fordham University School of Law in New York with the intention of becoming an FBI agent, however circumstances beyond his control thwarted that career path, so David began work as a Public Finance Attorney on Wall Street. After 3 years on Wall Street he was recruited by a Los Angeles law firm and moved to LA, staying involved with the Marine Corps Reserve. He was called back to active duty for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, an after being released from active-duty returned to work for a variety of law firms. In the Marine Corps reserve David was assigned to US Central Command where he worked with Special Operations Command Central doing counter-terrorism work.
After eight years in private law practice, David became a Deputy City Attorney/Prosecutor. After the attacks of 9/11 David was again recalled to active duty, and for the next three years made four overseas deployments with Special Operations Command Central to Afghanistan and to the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Yemen) for Operation Enduring Freedom and then to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2007 with the Iraqi insurgency heating up David was again recalled to active duty and deployed overseas to Iraq. During a rocket attack on Baghdad David was wounded in action, however he refused to be returned stateside and continued his mission, ultimately being awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his actions in combat After returning stateside David was named as the 2010 Los Angeles County Veteran of the Year in a ceremony at the Rose Bowl. David retired from the Marine Corps in 2009 and retired from the City Attorney’s Office in 2010.
David Sits on the Boards of Directors of three 501(c)(3) charitable organizations, is an Usher and a Eucharistic minister at American Martyrs church, is the Grand Knight (Chief Executive Officer) of the Manhattan Beach Council of the Knights of Columbus, and is a Scoutmaster with a Manhattan Beach Boy Scout Troop.