Anthony W. McCarthy was a communications wunderkind who served such prominent Baltimore figures as Sheila Dixon, Martin O’Malley, Kweisi Mfume and Elijah Cummings during decades of political work in Maryland, along with hosting an award-winning radio show. McCarthy died Sunday after a lengthy battle with kidney disease, according to his longtime friend and power of attorney, Yolanda Maria Martinez. He was 57.

The longtime political aide had been on dialysis for four years and was hoping for a new kidney.

Martinez, who was by his side when he died, described McCarthy as her “spirit brother” and “best friend.”

“He is finally free of pain and resting in peace,” she said.

Although he was born and raised in Virginia, then attended Eastern Mennonite University and Howard University, McCarthy made his home in Maryland, where he arrived in the mid-1990s and made an immediate impact on the political landscape.

He served as communications director for Cummings. He also was an adviser to mayors Kurt Schmoke and O’Malley, Congressman Mfume and Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming.

“Anthony was the epitome of loyalty, principles and hope. He never allowed the coarse nature of others to deprive him of his faith in God or his belief in the inherent nature of good in all people. Optimism and determination coexisted in his being. I will miss his trust and wise counsel. He was a friend until the end,” said Mfume in a statement.

McCarthy previously worked as a senior speechwriter in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Donna Shalala during the Clinton administration.

In all, McCarthy served as spokesperson for three former mayors: Dixon from 2006 to 2008, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake from 2015 to 2016 and Catherine Pugh from 2016 to 2019.

Longtime City Councilmember Carl Stokes called McCarthy, who served as Stokes’ legislative assistant from 2009 to 2010, a communications guru and wunderkind.

“He was the lead messenger for all of us,” Stokes said. “We listened to him in a collaborative way. We traded thoughts, ideas and perspective. He was impactful.”

Stokes said he last spoke to McCarthy on Saturday — a few hours before his death.

“Although it was expected, it was still heartbreaking. He was totally at peace with it, which meant that we also had to be,” Stokes said.

Even after their working relationship ended, the two continued to have weekly lunches at Nancy’s in Station North, where McCarthy would eat chicken salad on white toast.

Cumming said she was devastated by McCarthy’s death.

“With his beautiful radio voice, he spoke endlessly about our great city with so much pride,” she said.

Cumming said McCarthy was responsible for her getting her job as inspector general, presenting her resume to then-Mayor Pugh. Previously, Cumming was the deputy inspector general of investigation for the Washington Metro Area Transportation Authority.

McCarthy stood by Cumming through her work — even when it resulted in prickly dealings with organizations and other politicians.

He believed “fiercely in all that the Office of the Inspector General did,” she said. “Anthony McCarthy was a great man and one who I was so proud to call my friend.”

McCarthy was an ordained minister who was also an active member of the Baltimore City NAACP. He was a former board member of the Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and MedStar Union Memorial Hospital, and served as vice president of Tears of a Mother’s Cry, a nonprofit supporting mothers who have lost children to violence.

A former editor-in-chief of The AFRO-American (2001-03) and associate publisher of The Baltimore Times, he was the host of “The Weekly News Roundup With Anthony McCarthy” on WYPR 88.1 FM and “The Anthony McCarthy Show” on WEAA 88.9 FM, recognized as Best Talk Show Host by Baltimore Magazine in 2015. McCarthy authored a children’s book, “The Visit,” in 2018.

Former mayoral candidate Thiru Vignarajah said McCarthy was “wonderful, as thoughtful and kind as he was an eloquent and towering force of nature.”

Vignarajah said the two knew each other for five years — with McCarthy serving as his communications director on the campaign trail.

Vignarajah recalled a speech he gave at a 2023 event to raise money for McCarthy, who was leaving Maryland for an assisted living facility in Virginia. “You’ve tonight — let me just keep track — been compared for your writing to James Baldwin, for your mind to Thurgood Marshall and for your oratory and your words to Martin Luther King. Those are not small men. As I heard people say that, I thought to myself it is only a matter of time, decades from now … where people will compare people to you.”

McCarthy is survived by his mother, Mary Haines; stepfather, Charles Haines; and five uncles, three aunts, five nieces and two nephews.

A memorial service will be held in the coming weeks.