Bad News: Dan McDonald

[holdenontoit]

stunned and uncharacteristically speechless. so sad, what a nice guy.

[yellowmininy]

Oh, no. I didn't know Dan well, but knew him from a few runs and followed him up Mt Washington on my first drive up. He was a lot of fun, and truly enthusiastic for Minis.

Hugs to all who knew him.

[GBMINI]

So very sad.
Thank you Steve for starting the thread - and thank you Derek for posting a great picture.

Dan was another of our "magically friendly" MINI folks, and I'm very sorry to read the news.

[AprilWhine]

Any idea what happened?

[Shamster]

My sincere condolences to all his friends and family .

[blalor]

I'm shocked! What a nice guy he was. Last time I saw him was at the R56 unveiling at MoP in February. Just a "hello" but he remembered me and that was only like the 3rd time I'd ever seen him.

We have such a vibrant community of friends here, but it seems like those people are the ones whose stay is the shortest. Godspeed, Dan.

[Theo]

In the 1600s, Bishop Robert South wrote:

"If there be any truer measure of a man than by what he does, it must be by what he gives."

...and Dan McDonald gave unconditionally to us all. His spirit will be welcomed in our hearts and in those of our departed friends.

Theo

[bethandlouis]

I wanted to share a story that happened to us at the MOT 2004 (the first Bar Harbor invasion). At the gas station where we were to split into two groups there was some confusion as to where we were supposed to go. I found Diane but couldn't manage to find our 'leader' Chris Winslow. There was a message that came over the Walkies that the group had already left. So we punched it and hopped onto the interstate hoping to catch up to the rest of the group. Diane and I were speeding but neither of us had a radar detector so we were kind of afraid to really push it. I looked in my rear view mirror and here comes a red MINI really fast and then just blew by us like we were stopped (we were probably doing 75-85mph at the time). Diane came over the Walkie saying that he had to have had a radar detector and we could probably speed up a little (at least to catch him). We sped up to 100-110mph, calling for the 'leader' the whole time. We finally caught up to him and managed to pull the group over. Chris had the Walkie Talkie on the wrong channel. I caught up to the MINI that was going so fast and it was Dan McDonald. I asked him if he had a radar detector. His reply, "No." and laughed. I told him what happened and he laughed harder. He was just trying to catch up too.

[rfinprc]

Ah, Dan catching up. The Big Dig run a few years back went on from Boston out to the western burbs, with a stop at Decordova Museum. Here we were, all lined up in this pretty tranquil parking lot in the woods, and in came Dan, racing to catch up, wheels spinning and sand flying. We honored him by making his car the centerpiece for a group photo. Sorry I don't have a copy to share. Anyone?

[GBMINI]

Well remembered Richard, I'd forgotten that - but here's a pic (click for bigger):


(Dan's not even out of his car yet)

[GBMINI]

And at the R56 unveiling (I wonder if Dan was tempted) ...

[MisterMINI]

Very sad and shocking news. Dan was such a friendly man who will be very much missed by all those with whom he was acquainted. My condolences to his family and those closest to him.

[Jester's mom]

I'm am so sorry to hear this news. My condolences go out to his family he will be very missed.

[bakerjc]

Damn.

He was one of the good guys.

And he always said real nice things about my kids.

I want to believe it was peaceful.

[GBMINI]

I share your belief, Jeff, from the little I heard about the circumstances