JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Family and friends are remembering a popular resident physician who was killed in a crash Wednesday. He was 33.
Dr. Bradford McGuire Jr. was an emergency medicine resident at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Jacksonville, according to his mentor, Dr. Melissa Parsons. He just graduated and this month began working at Ascension St. Vincent’s Jacksonville.
A native of Navarre, Florida, he graduated from Florida State’s College of Medicine and had plans to continuing practicing in Jacksonville.
McGuire was killed Wednesday afternoon when his pickup truck hit the side of an overpass at the I-95 northbound exit ramp to State Road 9B. The cab caught fire after impact.
A good Samaritan told News4JAX he tried to save the doctor but could not get him out of the truck.
The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the cause.
“Brad was a devoted and loving brother, father, son, husband, uncle, and friend, living a full life of sports and activity,” his family wrote in a statement provided to News4JAX.
They said he leaves behind his 4-year-old son, his girlfriend who was also in the program, his parents, and eight siblings.
“If you met Brad, you loved him and he loved you big,” said his sister, Molly Grant. “Because that’s the only way he knew how to love. Big.”
His family said he was planning to propose to his girlfriend, Kasi Hartman, in July. She spoke to News4JAX on Friday evening.
“We were going to Greece in a few weeks and he was planning to propose on that trip,” Hartman said.
Hartman is set to graduate from her residency program Friday night. She and McGuire had been dating more than two years.
“He was kind, goofy. He was my best friend,” she said. “He was a family man. That’s what defines him.”
“Brad’s family was everything to him,” his family added in its statement to News4JAX. “He loved being an uncle to the dozens of children in the family and was happiest when he was with people. Brad was quick to give honor and shine light on everyone. Working in Emergency Medicine was a perfect career for him, as while he would be interacting with people on possibly the worst day of their life, his love, joy and medical knowledge would pour from him to help heal both the body and soul. Brad loved fiercely, and anyone that knew Brad loved him. He leaves an enormous legacy that cannot be replaced.”
“He touched the hearts of so many more over the course of his life,” Parsons wrote in a post on a GoFundMe page she created. The point of the fundraiser is to cover memorial expenses and create a college fund for his son.
McGuire was also a star utility player for the University of Louisiana Lafayette Ragin’ Cajun football team, playing positions from quarterback to wide receiver.
He helped lead the team to winning the first New Orleans Bowl in program history, according to ESPN Lafayette.
A funeral service is scheduled for Saturday, June 25, at 11 a.m. CT at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Navarre. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m., and the service will be followed by a graveside processional at Rose Lawn Cemetery in Gulf Breeze.