Alonzo L. McDonald

Alonzo L. McDonald (born 1928) is an American businessman and philanthropist.

Biography

Early life

He was born August 5, 1928 in Atlanta, Georgia.[1] He graduated from Emory University in 1948.[1][2][3] He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1950 to 1952.[1] He received an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School in 1956.[1][2][3]

Career

He was a reporter for The Atlanta Journal from 1948 to 1950.[1] He worked for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation from 1956 to 1960.[1]

He worked for McKinsey & Company, serving as Partner in New York City and London, and Chief Executive Officer, until he was Managing Director when he retired in 1977.[2][3] That year, he was appointed Deputy Special Trade Representative and Ambassador in charge of the U.S. Delegation to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in Geneva.[3] In 1979, he was appointed Assistant to the President of the United States and White House Staff Director under President Jimmy Carter.[3]

He served as President and Vice Chairman of the Bendix Corporation from 1981 to 1983.[3] In 1981, he also became a faculty member of the Harvard Business School and served as Senior Counselor to the Dean until 1987.[3]

In 1983, he founded the Avenir Group, a private investment bank.[3]

He has been a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the U.S. Council of the International Chamber of Commerce, the Economic Club of New York, the Center for Inter-American Relations, the Harvard Business School Club of Greater New York and the French-American Foundation.[1]

Philanthropy

In 1991, together with Os Guinness, he co-founded the Trinity Forum, a Christian non-profit organization, where he serves as Senior Fellow and Trustee Emeritus.[2][3] He has donated to The Fellowship.[2]

He is the founder and Chairman of the McDonald Agape Foundation.[4] He has donated money to scholars at Harvard University, Yale University, the University of Chicago, Duke University, Emory University, the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.[2] Some of his donations have gone to David N. Hempton at Harvard, Jean Bethke Elshtain at Chicago, or Sarah Coakley at Cambridge.[2] He also funded a sabbatical for Stanley Hauerwas, during which he wrote Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir (2010).[2]

Personal life

He is married to Suzanne McDonald, and they have four children.[2] They reside in Birmingham, Michigan.[2] He converted to Roman Catholicism at the age of seventy-nine.[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Deputy Special Representative for Trade Negotiations Nomination of Alonzo L. McDonald, Jr., The American Presidency Project, July 21, 1977
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 Mark Oppenheimer, From One Benefactor, Diverse Seeds in Theology, The New York Times, July 16, 2010
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 The Trinity Forum
  4. ↑ McDonald Agape Foundation