A Boston native born on June 7, 1930, he was a son of the late Henry and Alice (Crowley) McQuade. He was a son of St. Paul Parish in the Hub's Dorchester section. Following high school, he completed undergraduate studies at Boston College, prior to entering St. John Seminary as a member of the Class of 1957. He was the last member of the Class of 1957 ordained at Holy Name Church, West Roxbury, by Auxiliary Bishop Jeremiah F. Minihan. The other half of the class was ordained at the cathedral by Archbishop Cushing. Fathers Joseph Gaudet and Paul McPartland are the surviving members of the cathedral ordination group. An early sadness struck the young priest, the sudden death of his father, Henry, on Feb. 13, 1957, just days following the First Mass of his newly ordained son.

From his ordination and first assignment, Father McQuade served in archdiocesan parishes as an assistant or an associate and then as pastor or administrator. His parish assignments were St. John Vianney, Point of Pines, Revere (1957-1960); St. Agnes, Reading (1960-1966); Sacred Hearts, Malden (1966-1969); Star of the Sea in Quincy's Squantum neighborhood (1969-1970); St. Clare, Braintree (1970-1974); and St. John the Evangelist, Canton (1974-1978). The farthest assignment from Dorchester was the 20 miles to Reading.

From his own accounts and from parishioners, he was very much at home in parish life and liked his parishioners and they liked him.

Humberto Cardinal Medeiros named him pastor of Dorchester's St. Mark Parish on Sept. 12, 1987. Nine years later, Bernard Cardinal Law named him pastor of Holy Ghost Parish, Whitman, which put him much closer to his own residence in Scituate.

During his days off and then in his retirement years, he was a familiar face during his daily walks along the Scituate beaches, offering a hello or a neighborly chat to the year-round and summer residents.

He retired from parish administration in 1990, but not from active ministry, as he was, for some years, assigned to the Emergency Response Team of priests who would fill in on a temporary basis, of varying lengths, for pastors or parochial vicars who were sick; or during the transition from one pastor to another.

He entered Regina Cleri Residence in Boston in 2020, and subsequently, Marian Manor in South Boston.

He died on Sept. 26, 2024, in Winooski, Vermont.

Father McQuade's funeral Mass was celebrated on Oct. 2, 2024, at St. Mark Church, Dorchester.

Father Corey Bassett-Tirrell was both the principal celebrant and homilist of the funeral Mass and concelebrants included Father John Ronaghan, pastor of St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish, Dorchester; and Father Joseph White, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in the Hub's West End.

Survivors are his sisters, Patricia McGrath, Winooski, Vermont; and Joan Doody, Plymouth. Father McQuade was buried in New Calvary Cemetery, Mattapan.