McConihe, F Moran”Mike”

29 Apr McConihe, F Moran”Mike”

Fair Pioneer 

F. Moran (Mike) McConihe, 85, a Washington area real estate investor and developer who played a key role in the development of the Potomac area of Montgomery County, died of cancer Jan. 30 at Manor Care Nursing Center in Potomac. Mr. McConihe was also an adviser to President Eisenhower on the demolition of Washington’s World War II temporary government office buildings and later served in the Eisenhower administration as administrator of public buildings for the General Services Administration. 

During the 1930s, he acquired the land that became the home for the Potomac Hunt Club in 1943, and served as club secretary for 35 years. He was a founder of St. Francis Episcopal Church in Potomac, which was also built on land donated by Mr. McConihe. He built the Potomac Valley Shopping Center and helped found what is now Potomac Valley Bank. A resident of Potomac, Mr. McConihe was born in Cedarhurst, Long Island, and moved to Washington when he was 2 years

old. 

He attended Sidwell Friends School and graduated from Princeton University. During the 1920s, he played a role in the development of the Belmont Road-Kalorama area of Northwest Washington, and built many of the houses in that area. After the stock market crash of 1929 forced the closing of Mr. McConihe’s construction business, he worked two years as a government land appraiser. Later he joined Randall H. Hagner & Company real estate, where he was vice president until 1956. At that time Eisenhower named him a special consultant with responsibility for developing a plan for demolition of the World War II temporary buildings. In 1956 he was named GSA’s administrator of public buildings, a job he held until 1959. 

He had served on the boards of directors of the Washington chapter of the Red Cross, Emergency Hospital, the Metropolitan Club and Great Falls Tavern Inc., an organization established to preserve Great Falls Tavern on the C&O Canal. Mr. McConihe was also a former president of the Potomac Elementary School Parent-Teachers Association and the Princeton Club of Washington. 

Survivors include his wife of 50 years, the former Marguerite Colton Hagner of Potomac, and two children, Elie Pisarra of Potomac and Michael H. McConihe of Chevy Chase.