This Rhode Island-Based Bodyguard Protects A-List Celebs
Rhode Islander and personal protection specialist Jeffrey Maguire stands watch.
Jeffrey Maguire arrives for lunch at a local sushi place and seats himself against a back wall, affording a clear view of every person walking in and out of the front door. It’s probably no coincidence, since his job is to protect some of the most famous people in the world.
Tall, lean and with a military-grade buzz cut, Maguire looks the part of a bodyguard (“personal protection specialist” is his preferred title) and, while not without flashes of humor, the 1984 graduate of North Kingstown High School is a serious dude. Especially when it comes to protecting his high-profile clients, which have included celebrities, royalty, Fortune 500 families and diplomats.
“A good bodyguard never tells who they work for,” he says.
A quick Google search leads to pictures of Maguire keeping watch over A-listers such as Jay-Z, the band Linkin Park and Maynard James Keenan, the lead singer of Tool. Maguire is particularly tight-lipped about the identity of his current client, who is an international superstar and recognizable by a single name.
Into martial arts as a kid and, later, a certified black belt instructor, Maguire’s background includes managing security teams at New York City nightclubs. In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Maguire enlisted and served in Iraq. After his tour of duty, he returned to the nightclub security circuit where he made an important connection and established his business, Maguire Protective Services.
“I was working as a doorman at a club called Lotus in the Meatpacking District. Another door person was dating the manager of a then-unknown singer,” he says. “She mentioned her boyfriend was looking for someone who could provide his up-and-coming client personal security for a trip to Trinidad. Thus began a work relationship that still exists fifteen years later.”
His work, Maguire says, is often misunderstood. He is polite as he escorts clients past paparazzi. He’s a highly trained professional whose skill set includes being an executive protection instructor, NRA law enforcement firearms instructor and EMT.
Yet Maguire has never drawn a gun on the job, and has been in a physical altercation only once, taking a belligerent drunk to the floor after a female friend of his client was attacked at a nightclub.
“A lot of the job is about situational awareness, assessing risk and keeping clients out of danger,” Maguire says. “If a physical altercation occurs, chances are you messed up.”
Personal protection is an always-on job. “My biggest fear is what happens when I’m not there,” he says.
That concern is part of what recently led him to design the Mundbora, which is a shield that looks like a backpack. It’s made of ballistic material and includes special inserts that allow users to protect themselves from various threats like gun or knife attacks. The backpack is already being used by Maguire and a handful of colleagues, as well as some of the wealthiest families in the world to protect their children, he says.
“If you find yourself in a bad situation, it allows you to protect yourself and escape danger,” he says. “No other bag exists solely for this purpose.”
Maguire’s clients prize discretion almost as much as protection from enthusiastic fans, stalkers or worse. Bodyguards who join the party don’t tend to last long. “I’m not enamored by celebrity and never have been,” he says. “You can never be a fan. You don’t want to become the very thing you’re hired to protect them from.”
The job, he says, is to allow the client to relax and enjoy some semblance of a normal life. “I’m visible when needed, but the rest of the time I try to be as invisible as possible,” he says. mundbora.com
