Library Benefactor Stuart MacDonald Dies
©1997 Voice Newspapers- Reprinted with permission of the Voice Newspaper Group

BY ROBERT SNELL
Voice Staff Writer

Stuart MacDonald's final act of philanthropy came nearly nine years after he donated the library building which bears his name and two weeks before his death on April 11.

MacDonald called New Baltimore Historical Society vice president Rich Gonyeau in late March to request 15 order forms for memorial bricks which will one day pave Washington Street sidewalks as part of a Downtown Development Authority project. But the bricks weren't for him.

"I've got lots of friends to remember," MacDonald said to Gonyeau. Brick by brick, MacDonald built a plastics empire and a reputation as a philanthropist, civic leader and details man. (In the 80's, MacDonald became the driving force behind the renovation of a warehouse he owned into the new home for the New Baltimore Public Library. The library now bears his name).

"He liked the art deco style and, when he's putting a half-million dollars into a building, you don't tell him what to do --- and you never told 'Mac' what to do," longtime friend Oscar Socia said. "At first, he said he was just going to donate the building but he kept getting more involved. He did everything."

MacDonald, a 54-year resident of New Baltimore, died of a heart attack at his Vero Beach, Florida, home. He was 83.

At peak times, MacDonald employed 500 people in his various plants in northern Macomb and St. Clair counties. In 1943, the Detroit native relocated his plastics company --- MacDonald Manufacturing --- to New Baltimore and when his business ballooned, the New Baltimore company shifted to a 55,000-square-foot plant on Green Street.

His parent company, The MacDonald Group, included plants in New Baltimore, Chesterfield, Marine City, Ira Township and one in Georgia. The plants provided steady employment for women and college students during World War II, when steady work was scarce in the Bay area.

Former New Baltimore mayor and city clerk Therese Orczykowski said people scoffed at MacDonald back in the 1940s when he told people about his economic intentions. Years later, those same people punched time cards.

"I think he startled people at first because plastics was so new," she said. "A lot of people scoffed at it and said it wouldn't get off the ground, but he had a tremendous amount of drive, and was young. He never seemed to get discouraged.

"MacDonald --- "Mac" to friends --- met his wife Velma at his New Baltimore plant and married her in 1965, longtime friend Oscar Socia said. He served as a city councilman from 1946-48 and helped establish the first Bay-Rama summer festival in 1955 during his tenure as Civic Club president. The event later became the Fishfly Festival.

"Anything that dealt with the city, if there was a need, he made sure he was a part of it," said Ron Custer, a civic club member and 35-year acquaintance. "And anyone who worked with him, if they had need, he would always see to it that they received help but he did it through other people because he didn't want them to know he was helping them.

"Civic Club members planned a memorial ceremony for Tuesday evening, April 15, Custer said.

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