A real blogger and real journalist

RIP to Dan McQuade

Luke O'Neil

29 Jan 2026 • 6 min read

It is with great sadness that I share the news that Dan McQuade has died at the age of 43. An unimaginably young age. He leaves behind his wife and a two year old son and hundreds of colleagues and many thousands of readers.

Dan McQuade was a real blogger and journalist in the best meanings of both terms, with an eye for the uncanny and a strident curiosity that all his peers and readers admired. He was also a true blue son of Philly, the peculiar city he loved very much and helped explain better than anyone else.

I saw him about two months ago now at my reading there and while I knew he was sick you would have had no idea things were this bad. He was doing bits all night and just commanded the room. I joked that he and I were having an accent contest and I was getting my ass kicked.

He read from this piece. One of his greatest among many.

He told me at the time he had just sold a book. He asked if it was ok that he announce it at my reading.

"I, like, just sold it so I’m excited but I don't want to steal the thunder of YOUR already-written book," he said.

"Yes the book is about shopping malls."

I hope it sees the light of day.

What a lovely tribute leading Defector right now. You should go read more of his work.

He also played a big role in finishing off Bill Cosby after years of others trying.

Read his Philly Mag story on the Buress show here and this piece from Longreads – How the Cosby Story Finally Went Viral And Why It Took So Long – about how it played out here.

I interviewed Dan and some others just as they were set to launch Defector a few years back. Here are a few things he said.

"I want my work to be better than it was at Deadspin. I'm someone who reads my old work to see where I can improve in reporting and writing. I've gone over all my old Deadspin work. I don't want to do the same thing again. An annoying branding way to put this would be that I want to do 'elevated' versions of my old work. I haven't published that many things since I quit last year; though there is a lot of downside to that, it has also been a nice break. In some ways I am refreshed and can return to regular blogging with a new focus. (This is approaching another annoying branding term.) But to answer your question: Yes, I will have my annual Wildwood boardwalk t-shirt roundup in September."

"I really have so many articles about Baywatch I want to write. The first season—which was on prime time in NBC, and greenlit after a rerun of a pilot movie in 1989 finished in the top 10 one week—did so poorly in the ratings, late NBC exec Brandon Tartikoff retooled the show with a few episodes to go in the season and made it about this guy Cort (he literally returns in an episode named 'Home Cort') and the show is barely about the beach anymore; it's just about this guy Cort, who is a lifeguard and also a petty criminal and he owns a surf shop and then in later seasons he goes blind but this does not stop him from winning a dune buggy race once. Also, the show Baywatch Nights takes place primarily during the day? Anyway that was my impression of what Hell World would be like if it were about Baywatch."

I shared this photo recently but here it is again. What a bright smile. Even then.

I would once again like to request that my friends and colleagues please stop dying. Fuck cancer and Go Birds.

I love my hair. It looks like a fancy dog’s ears. My friend calls it “magic hair.” Everyone I talked to said my hair was incredible. Strangers have compared me to multiple pro wrestlers, Brad Pitt, Kurt Cobain, and Jesus Christ. These are all incredible comps. People see the hair and feel compelled to tell me I remind them of a person famous for being handsome or the literal Lord and Savior.

So you can understand why it might be a front-of-mind concern for me now that I’m losing it. Ah. Well.

I’d never heard of neuroendocrine cancer before doctors told me I had it. By the summer of 2024, the original tumor in my pancreas had spread to my liver, lymph nodes, and bones. “He has a massive tumor burden and impending liver failure and needs urgent intervention to prevent death,” a doctor wrote.

Goodbye Dan. Thank you for the pictures of Tom Brady's hat.

Five years ago today, they booked the wrong Four Seasons. My on-scene report from Four Seasons Total Landscaping and Fantasy Island Adult Bookstore that day: defector.com/the-trump-pr...
— Dan McQuade (@dhm.bsky.social) 2025-11-07T21:48:23.566Z