James McNair (October 1, 1951 – June 7, 2014), known by his stage names Jimmy Mack and Uncle Jimmy Mack, was an American comedian and writer.

Career

Early in his career, McNair worked a number of jobs, including caseworker at a homeless shelter. He also worked to help those in his neighborhood, holding frequent fundraisers and serving food at a local Salvation Army shelter. The Peekskill, N.Y., native was well known in his community where he was often seen volunteering at his local church or playing host to ''The Original Uncle Jimmy Mack's Amateur Hour'', a recurring fundraising event that helped to showcase local comedic talent. McNair left the construction industry to pursue comedy, an effort that was grueling and paid little; but did put him in touch with other aspiring entertainers at, among other places, the Uptown Comedy Club in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

where he would meet

Tracy Morgan Tracy Jamal Morgan (born November 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy television series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1996 to 2003, and played Tracy Jordan in the NBC sitcom ''30 Ro ...

. When Morgan later joined the cast of ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'', McNair would often write sketches and material for the show in a freelance capacity. He was traveling with the comedy troupe the night of his death to aid with the writing for Morgan's "Turn it Funny" comedy stand-up tour.

Mentorship

According to the ''

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

'', McNair was a close friend and mentor to Morgan. Morgan's former wife, Sabina Morgan, noted that the two "were very close," calling McNair "...one of the first comedians that took Tracy under his wing." Royale Watkins, a fellow comedian and contemporary of both McNair and Morgan, said in an interview, "There may be guys like Tracy who get the fame and notoriety, but you have people like Jimmy Mack who have kind of energized and fueled cats like Tracy and kept them going on the road."

Death

On June 7, 2014, McNair was killed at the age of 62 in a six-vehicle accident in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. McNair was a passenger in a

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment which can be operated mechanically by hand or by a button electronically. A luxu ...

traveling northbound, north of

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

, on the

New Jersey Turnpike The New Jersey Turnpike (NJTP) is a system of controlled-access highway, controlled-access toll roads in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The turnpike is maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA).The Garden State Parkway, although ma ...

, just after 1:00 AM EDT, when the limo bus was struck from behind by a

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

-operated tractor-trailer, causing a chain reaction crash. The group was returning from a show at the

Dover Downs Hotel & Casino Bally's Dover Casino Resort, formerly Dover Downs, is a hotel, casino, and racetrack complex in Dover, Delaware. It has a harness horse racing track, which is surrounded by Dover Motor Speedway, a concrete track used for NASCAR motor racin ...

Dover, Delaware Dover ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and the List of municipalities in Delaware, second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, Delaware, Kent County and the princ ...

. Three others, Ardie Fuqua, Jeffrey Millea, and actor/comedian

, were injured in the crash. On July 10, 2014, Morgan and the other two passengers filed a lawsuit against Walmart, alleging the driver of the firm's tractor-trailer had not slept for 24 hours before the crash. He was buried at Hillside Cemetery in

Cortlandt Manor Cortlandt Manor is a hamlet (New York), hamlet—an unincorporated section—of the Cortlandt, New York, town of Cortlandt in northern Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, roughly surrounding Peekskil ...

Westchester County Westchester County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The county is the seventh most populous cou ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

.''The Examiner''
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References

External links

*
James McNair
At Find A Grave {{DEFAULTSORT:McNair, James 1952 births 2014 deaths African-American activists 20th-century American comedians 20th-century American male writers 20th-century Baptists 20th-century American philanthropists 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American male writers 21st-century Baptists Activists from New York (state) African-American male comedians African-American screenwriters African-American stand-up comedians American stand-up comedians American comedy writers American male comedians American male screenwriters American television writers Baptists from New York (state) Baptist writers Charity fundraisers (people) Comedians from New York (state) People from Peekskill, New York Philanthropists from New York (state) Road incident deaths in New Jersey Screenwriters from New York (state) Talent managers Writers from New York (state) 20th-century American writers African-American male writers