Frank was born in New London, Connecticut, and prepared at Governor Dummer Academy. He was an English major. Both Frank's father, Francis Foran McGuire, and his uncle, Morgan K. McGuire, were Yale Law School graduates.

Frank was in Silliman and was a member of the Pundits, Elizabethan Club, Aurelian and Scroll and Key. He was chairman of the Record and he sang in the St. Thomas More Choir.

After Yale, Frank attended Yale Law School for one year and then served in the Army 1965 to 1967 and was assigned to the Jungle Warfare Center in Panama. Following discharge from service as a sergeant, Frank pursued his law studies at Boston College School of Law. He graduated in 1970 and was editor of the Law Review. After graduation from law school, Frank was admitted to the Connecticut Bar and joined his father's firm, McGuire & McGuire, becoming the third generation of his family to practice law in New London.

Frank was the husband of Jane Holdsworth, director of the Thames Science Center in New London, who survived him. He left two sons, Francis F. McGuire II and Edmund B. McGuire of New London, his brother James C. McGuire of New London, with whom he also practiced law, and two sisters, Susan McGrath of Norwich, Vermont and Elizabeth Enders of New York City and Waterford, Connecticut.

Continuing his father's tradition of public service, Frank was active in many civic undertakings. His posts over the years included being president of the New London YMCA and vice president of the New London Public Library. He one of the founding directors of the Maritime Society and he helped establish the Custom House Museum. He was a director of the Child & Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut, New London Visiting Nurse Association and the New London Landmarks-Union Railroad Station Trust. He was also a member of Thames Science Center Board, member of Ariston, a corporator of Lawrence and Memorial Hospital, and member of the advisory board of the Connecticut National Bank, New London Office. He also served as attorney for the New London Day newspaper.

He was a former member of the New London Board of Education. He was most recently chairman of the New London Historic District Commission.

Classmate Allen Overmyer remembers Frank's original, endearing sense of humor, spontaneous and irrepressible. He had "an abiding sensitivity and a deep capacity to feel and to care. ... There was never a finer friend nor a warmer, more real human being."

In a moving editorial marking his passing, the New London Day wrote:

"The death of attorney Frank Lewis McGuire takes from this community a gentle, kindly man respected for his character and his goodness. In all his work he conveyed the strongest sense of the duty and the honor of public service. Yet he was never showy. That was out of character for him. Rather, he led by unobtrusive example. Though he did so in a quiet and dignified way, no one who knew him could fail to see the intensity of his commitment."

"He spent much time helping others. He did not do this for himself, but out of a genuine concern for people. He was not ambitious in the a worldly and selfish sense. But he was ambitious in advocating the public good. He wanted to improve life for his family, his friends and all the people of his community."

"He accomplished things because he instinctively knew the right thing to do. That wonderful sense of propriety was one of the most striking features of his personality. His high standards of conduct and his decency were models for members of the law profession. … When he spoke, people knew clearly that he stood for principle. …"

"Outside the office, he was an easy, friendly companion. He had a lilting, Irish tenor voice, and he relished singing at parties. He also had a wonderful sense of humor. … his simple kindness, gentlemanly qualities and courtly manner touched and aided people. … He will be remembered."

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