Robert 'Bob' Neal McDonald, 90
Robert “Bob” Neal McDonald, 90, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018, at the Kalispell Regional Medical Center.
He was born on Nov. 17, 1927, in Casper, Wyoming, to Paul and Thelma McDonald. During Bob’s childhood he lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, graduating from Tulsa Central High School before entering the U.S. Coast Guard in 1945. After the war ended, he continued to serve his country in the military Color Guard in Washington, D.C., at Arlington Cemetery and the nation’s capitol. He received an honorable discharge on May 21, 1946, and returned to Tulsa to take his first job as a printing equipment salesman for Addressograph-Multigraph while attending college at the University of Tulsa.
Bob was told by his mentor to head toward the smokestacks, leading him to become a sales and marketing pioneer for the then nascent steel building business of the early 1950s. He first traveled the world as a sales and marketing executive for Butler Buildings of Kansas City. Following 15 years with Butler, he co-purchased American Buildings of Eufaula, Alabama, through a leveraged buyout, which his team ultimately sold through a novel Oppenheimer Trust transaction. He then consulted to the industry, and sat on the board of NCI Building Systems, Inc. (NYSE: NCS) during its growth years as a public company.
Bob was an avid fisherman, hunter, outdoorsman and nature lover. He fished the world over, using every type of tackle and gear imaginable. During his spare time off from American Buildings in Eufaula, he melded his passion for fishing with his sales and marketing expertise to develop the Humminbird fish-finder sonar product, while founding and launching his company, Techsonic Industries, in 1971. By successfully growing the market for electronic fish-finders, and taking major market shares from Lowrance Electronics, Bob liquefied his Techsonic ownership through an IPO. He considered this his greatest professional accomplishment and, to this day, Techsonic remains a dominant competitor in its business.
Bob led a rich family life. After his Coast Guard service, he married Mary Estelle Latshaw (Botz) in Tulsa. They soon had a son, Sterling Harold McDonald, who now lives with his wife Risa Taub McDonald in Houston and Park City, Utah. They have two daughters and two granddaughters from a prior marriage, all of which live in the Kansas City area. In the mid-‘50s, Bob was remarried to Louise Bushman in Kansas City. He adopted Louise’s two children, Randy and Linda, and soon bore a daughter, Karen. Randy McDonald and his daughter live in Marin County, California. Linda McDonald Waters lives in the KC area with her husband, Andy. They have two sons, a daughter and two grandchildren. Karen McDonald Bogenholm lives with her husband, Carl, near Atlanta. They have two sons.
Nearing retirement, Bob acquired property on the Bighorn River near Hardin, Montana, and built a log cabin replica of his paternal grandparents’ homestead in Sumatra, Montana. He divided his time among Hardin, Bigfork and Mazatlan, Mexico. In 1997 he married Margie Drew Gildart, settling in Bigfork and Green Valley, Arizona. Margie has two children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild, all living nearby in the Flathead Valley.
A celebration of life will be held June 1, 2019, at the Bigfork Harbor Clubhouse.
Bob’s charity of choice is the Flathead Lake Biological Station.