At Princeton he majored in politics, joined Campus Club, and strummed his listeners out of their seats as a banjo player in the Princeton Tiger Paws. He roomed with Thomas Samford and Winston Smith. He earned a master’s degree in international affairs from George Washington University.
After Navy Officer Candidate School in Newport, R.I., he became a career cryptologist. In 1956 at Army Language School in Monterey, Calif., Mac met Joette Clark, whom he married in 1957 and remained devoted to for the rest of his life.
Mac’s career took his family to Japan, Scotland, Taiwan, and Hawaii, punctuated by time serving on a submarine as well as at the Pentagon. He had two stints at the National Security Agency, during which he earned numerous medals and commendations, none of which commemorate exactly what Mac or his unit were doing at the time.
No matter where they lived, Mac and Joette hosted frequent social events for Navy colleagues, their families, and friends. Too many times to count, their children woke up to find unexpected guests sleeping in the house after a particularly long night of revelry.
In his second career, Mac was the director of human resources for Betac Corp., a security company that employed many former servicemen with intelligence backgrounds, in Arlington, Va. At Betac, he personally recruited and later mentored countless men and women making the transition to civilian life as he had.
In 1994 Mac retired for the final time, relocating to Foxfire Village in North Carolina, where he and Joette played literally thousands of rounds of golf and enjoyed their time immensely. Mac spent many years serving on the board of adjustment for Foxfire Village and as treasurer for the Foxfire men’s golf association. With son Duncan, Mac finished in last place in the 2000 Foxfire Member-Guest golf tournament, earning them a “Horse’s Ass” trophy and putting them in position to make a “last to first” finish the next year, an accomplishment seen by Mac as the highlight of his golfing career — and Duncan’s also. In addition to golf, Mac spent hours playing the piano, reading avidly, and keeping close tabs on his grandchildren.
Mac died Jan. 24, 2019. He is survived by Joette, Duncan ’81, daughter-in-law Alina, son-in-law John, and grandchildren Kait, Carlin, Ally, Spencer, and Lisl. His daughter Meredith predeceased him in 2011.