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Obituary

Patron of the poor

ROBERT L. MCDONALD: 1923-2005. On his way to work, lawyer Robert McDonald would stop to buy coffee or breakfast for anyone who couldn't afford it.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published June 24, 2005

BEACH PARK - Robert L. McDonald was a successful lawyer, a devoted husband and a man who always helped people in need.

Every morning he would get up early to buy breakfast for homeless people before he went to work. He later gave up his law practice, retiring early so he could help his wife fulfill a dream of attending Bible college.

He died June 15 at age 82.

Mr. McDonald grew up in Rockford, Ill., one of six children. During the Depression, his parents didn't earn enough money to feed the entire family so they sent Robert and an older brother to an orphanage.

"It didn't make him bitter," daughter Sandy Chase said. "It made him compassionate and caring about anyone who was less fortunate."

During World War II, Mr. McDonald served in the Army, mostly doing hospital work.

He met an Army nurse everyone called Glad - short for Gladys, and also appropriate for her disposition - and they soon married. They spent the next 57 years together, until her death in 2003.

"They put each other on a very high pedestal," daughter Mary Bracewell said.

"My father would come home for lunch every day, or else my mother would bring lunch to him at his office. And every day at 4 p.m. I'd see her washing her face and putting on new makeup. She'd say, "When your father sees me, I want to look fresh and beautiful.' "

Mrs. McDonald was a nurse and Mr. McDonald went to law school when they started a family. The family moved to Tampa, where Mr. McDonald practiced law, first with an established firm and later with his own office on Kennedy Boulevard. He ventured into politics, running unsuccessfully against U.S. Rep. Sam Gibbons in the 1964 Democratic primary.

His son, Robert Jr., followed in his father's footsteps and became an attorney.

"When I was a young lawyer, he told me, "When you represent clients who can afford to pay, make them pay. Because you're going to represent people who can't afford to pay. To serve everyone, that's how you do it,' " his son said.

After their six children were grown, the McDonalds moved to Madeira Beach. But after a few years they missed their children and returned to Tampa, where they lived in Beach Park.

On his way to work, Mr. McDonald would stop at the McDonald's restaurant on Kennedy near West Shore Boulevard and buy coffee or breakfast for anyone who couldn't afford it.

Over the years, a growing number of people waited for Mr. McDonald every day, and he gladly helped them.

Mr. McDonald was in his 60s when his wife told him she wanted to go to Bible college in Oklahoma. It was something she felt she had to do for her spiritual growth.

"She told my father he could stay behind," daughter Joanne Cone said. "But their relationship was such that there was no way he would let her go."

Mr. McDonald gave up his law practice and moved to Tulsa with his wife. He even studied with her and became an ordained minister.

Mr. McDonald was never quite the same after his wife died, family members said. He suffered from dementia and had stopped eating well.

He died with four of his children at his bedside. The cause of death hasn't been determined, and to his family it doesn't matter.

"We'll just say he died of a broken heart," Chase said.

Mr. McDonald is survived by his children, Robert McDonald Jr., Sandra Chase, Susan T. McDonald, Joanne Cone and Mary Bracewell. In addition to his wife, he was preceded in death by a daughter, Janice McDonald.

[Last modified June 23, 2005, 01:01:07]