Arthur MacDonald

Arthur John MacDonald died peacefully in his home at Willamette Oaks in Eugene, Oregon, surrounded by his family, in the early morning of Wednesday, August 13, 2025.

He was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, on February 25, 1937, the second child of Helen Scone and Arthur James MacDonald. Eight years younger than his sister Doris, Art enjoyed the focused attention of his parents. Excelling in high school sports, especially baseball and basketball, he earned a dual athletic scholarship to the University of Delaware where he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering.

He married the love of his life, Sally Sherman, on June 4, 1983, in Woodstock, Vermont. Together they lovingly raised their collective six children while also juggling the demands of their respective growing businesses and their duties as volunteer ski patrollers.

Art enjoyed a variety of successful careers: as an executive at a fine tableware and glassware importing company in Philadelphia, owning a Sears Roebuck Catalogue store in Vermont, and ultimately having his own real estate appraisal business. Nevertheless, work was not what inspired the man.

By the time he reached 60, the travel bug had bitten. He and Sally began to explore the back roads of the U.S. in a very small RV. When Sally retired in 1999, they sold their Vermont home and hit the road full time, living in their 20-foot camper. Over the next ten years their adventures grew, expanding into the far reaches of North America, from Alaska to Newfoundland and throughout Mexico. In 2006 they took a cargo ship to the other side of the world and spent a year and a half among the kangaroos and kiwis of Australia and New Zealand. Notable among their various volunteering activities were their summers as interpretive guides at Heceta Head Lighthouse on the Oregon coast.

Throughout the years they immersed themselves in the wonders of nature, met diverse people from all walks of life, and lived with spontaneity and curiosity. This transformational period that brought them closer together and changed the way they viewed the world and its people.

Art and Sally settled in Tucson, Arizona, in 2009. Fascinated with the desert environment, they became docents at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, where they steeped themselves in the flora, fauna, and history of the region. Over the next 15 years they volunteered thousands of hours sharing their passion with museum visitors It was an invigorating capstone to their adventurous life.

They moved to Eugene, Oregon, in October 2024, settling into a new community with their usual energy and enthusiasm.

Art was an extraordinary man who was deeply committed to his wife, his family, and the human family in general. He was generous, supportive, and accepting to all, and he reveled in learning new things. Intelligent and curious, he enjoyed engaging in conversations ranging from politics, climate change, and science to wild animals and quirky human behavior, always through the lens of his far-flung experiences. Art was passionate about nature: being in it, learning about and from it, preserving it.

Art is survived by his indomitable wife, Sally; their devoted dog, the one-and-only Chica; their six independent children, Cheryl, Holly, Derek, Darin, Chelsea, and Sherman, and their loving spouses; and nine fabulous grandchildren.

Donations in memory of Art may be made to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona: https://www.desertmuseum.org/support/ongoing/donate.php.