Sanford N. McDonnell ’44

Sandy McDonnell died March 21, 2012, in St. Louis of pancreatic cancer.

A native of Arkansas, Sandy roomed at Princeton with John Krase, Art Munyan, and Van Olcott, with whom he rowed on the crew. An economics major, he went into the Army in April 1943 to spend two years on the Manhattan Project. After earning an engineering degree at the University of Colorado postwar, he joined McDonnell Aircraft, which was founded by his uncle James S. McDonnell. By 1980 he had become company president and chairman, continuing that role after McDonnell merged with Douglas Aircraft. With his uncle, he hosted President Kennedy’s visit to see the developing Gemini and Mercury space capsules.

An Eagle Scout, he became national president of the Boy Scouts and St. Louis Man of the Year in 1984. A Presbyterian Church elder, he lived his life by the Scout oath and law, created a corporate ethics program in the company, and after his retirement started a character and ethics program involving some 300,000 public-school students.

He married Priscilla “Pris” Robb in 1946. She survives along with his son, Randall, and daughter Robbin and their spouses; his sister; and an Air Force pilot grandson. Tall (6’4”) and distinguished by his magnificent white hair, Sandy will be missed for his integrity and outreach to mankind.