Craig MacDonald- Historian, Journalist, Author

Craig MacDonald has been a Pulitzer Prize nominee, an author, a newspaper/magazine writer and editor, a nationally-syndicated newspaper columnist, a television producer, a band leader, a promoter of the 1984 Olympics and America's Cup, and a keynote speaker at universities & national conferences.

But his proudest roles were as a father to son, Chris, and husband wife, Debbie. Before Chris turned 5, Craig taught his son to read. Why was this important? The 4th Generation writer/editor felt that reading was as essential as the air we breathe. Not only did Craig coach his son's basketball team, but he also coached his son to start a budding real estate web business at the age of 10. While dads drove their kids to soccer practice, Craig drove Chris to open houses for sale, a unique passion of the youngster who stood as tall as his father (6'5") by the age of 15.

Craig MacDonald succeeded in every task and looked at challenges as opportunities. (The journey IS the reward, he often said.) With  awards, plaques and recognition letters for everything from tennis, basketball and golf to PR campaigns, books and special projects at Olympic Games, he juggled a career at Bell Systems / AT&T with extracurricular activities like writing 24 non-fiction books on history, the Gold Rush and even his great-, great-, great-, great-grandfather who was murdered, The Rebel Reverend - James Caldwell: An American Revolution Hero.

He championed "the unsung hero" who, in many cases, was a woman. He even started a campaign urging National Park Service to recognize Jesse Benton Fremont and her contributions to saving Yosemite National Park from private land ownership.

Craig proudly served in the Army Reserve while working at a full time job as reporter for San Diego Union newspaper. His service at Fort Ord in Monterey exposed him to toxic chemicals, eventually leading to multiple myeloma diagnosis and a nine year battle with the rare blood disease before he passed.

Even when his health was greatly diminished and he could barely walk, Craig organized an entertainment act, "Forever Young", comprised of dancers, singers and musicians formerly appearing in movies, on Broadway and on stage. Most members were in their 80s to 100s, but eagerly performed with standing ovations at venues throughout Southern California.

Before the final curtain call, Craig MacDonald was a prolific writer who began, at age 16, going through newspaper archives, books and personal journals to document the stories of people who came to California and Nevada during the 1800s.

His work resulted in 24 books, many filled with illustrations from famed California artist Bill Anderson, who read the stories and worked with MacDonald to create images for readers,  depicting an era when few cameras and photographs existed.

Speaking of photos, when Craig embarked on a new job in telecommunications, he met and teamed up with photojournalist, Debbie Stock, winning award after award for their news releases filled with localized content. Their common interests and careers grew into more projects involving travel writing - and having their own family. 

Craig, whose college teammate became the NBA's first Slam Dunk Champion, was on the President's Advisory Board at Cal State Fullerton and set up the first SeniorNet  at Ruby Gerontology Center. The Pacific Bell Computing Center taught seniors how to use computers to communicate with others around the world. He also showed members of Congress how easy it was to use the French Minitel computing system that helped lead to the first major overhaul of the Telecommunications Act in nearly 62 years.

He chaired the Orange County Transportation Coalition deputies, which helped successfully get Measure M (a 1/2-cent sales tax) passed, that has led to more than $4 billion in transportation improvements.

For years, he spoke at universities, museums, national, state & historical conferences as well as many non-profits. Often, in lieu of pay for his speeches, Rotary Clubs donated polio shots to countries like Afghanistan; museums gave wheelchairs for use in African nations, both Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs donated books to local libraries; PEO and other organizations donated to college scholarships and the Lions Clubs donated several of his and other glasses to underserved communities.

He encouraged others. The Phi Kappa Phi graduate of San Jose State, a member of Phi Alpha Theta (the national history honor society), wrote the best-selling "Old West Christmas-Tales With a Twist," which he co-authored with his father, an English professor at San Jose State University. The true stories offered  hope, love, gratitude and joy at Christmastime.

Everyone in his family growing up were published authors and athletes, including his mother who was a 4th generation San Franciscan, and his sister who taught in the San Jose school system.

Craig was born a 49'er with the mission 100 years after the 1849 California Gold Rush, to tell the real stories of people who came from around the world seeking gold. MacDonald spent his life looking for "nuggets" about those migrants and their journeys. He enriched the lives of others through his many books, but he also entertained and educated millions of readers with his award-winning writing seen in newspapers, magazines, video productions and even songs.