Sid McDonald

Published 3:59 pm Monday, May 18, 2015

Sid McDonald, 76, of Arab, Alabama, passed away  Friday, May 15, 2015,  in Colorado Springs, Colorado, while on a business trip.

McDonald was born in Springville, Alabama, on May 18, 1938, to Leighton D. “Mac” and Marie Oliver McDonald, both deceased. He had one sister, Sarah Jo McDonald Cox, who is recently deceased. Formerly married to Ann Burnham Key from 1961-1982, he is survived by Jane Plunkett McDonald, his wife of nearly 30 years.

He was educated in Arab schools and graduated from the University of Alabama in 1961 with a degree from the School of Commerce and Business.

Always focused on improving education in Alabama, McDonald was a member of The University of Alabama Board of Trustees from 1992 to 2008, and served as Pro Tempore of the Board from 1999 to 2002. He was an ardent supporter of his local school system both vocally and financially. McDonald was instrumental in the establishment of the Arab City School system in 1971 and served as its first Board Chairman.

A dedicated public servant, Sid McDonald was among the first appointees named to the Alabama Commission on Higher Education when it was created in 1970. He also represented Marshall County in the Alabama House of Representatives for two terms from 1967-1974, and in the Alabama Senate from 1975-1979. He ran for governor of Alabama in 1978, the US Senate in 1995, and served as Alabama’s finance director under Gov. Fob James from 1980-1982.

McDonald began his successful business career shortly after college graduation when he became president of Brindlee Mountain Telephone Company, a local exchange telephone company started as Arab Telephone Company by his grandfather, Joseph E. Oliver, and developed by his parents. He managed the business until it was sold in 2000.

McDonald had many other successful business ventures. In 1983, he founded DeltaCom, a statewide long-distance telephone company, serving as its Chairman until it was sold in 1996. He was one of the first outside members of the Board of Directors of Intergraph Corporation, Huntsville, AL, from 1997 until its sale in 2006. Recently he led the start-up of CBX Holding, LLC (Cold Box), an Arab producer and marketer of temperature controlled cargo containers.

Throughout his life he was active in the development of commercial and residential real estate in Arab. He developed Pine Lake Village, a 130-acre residential development and Northgate Shopping Center in the 1970s, and Town Center Shopping Center in 1990s. In 1992 McDonald developed Cherokee Ridge, a 400-acre residential and country club development in Union Grove, Alabama, and in 1998 he began a significant golf and residential development in Highlands, North Carolina, now known as The Old Edwards Club at Highlands Cove.

McDonald was elected in 2001 to the Alabama Academy of Honor’s One Hundred Living Alabamians for outstanding accomplishments and services to the state of Alabama. He was also elected to the Alabama Business Hall of Fame in 2010.

Sid’s involvement with his alma mater came full circle in September 2014, when The University of Alabama dedicated Sid McDonald Hall, a 35,243-square-foot facility on its Tuscaloosa campus that is the new home of the University System’s Chancellor and the staff of the Board of Trustees.

McDonald is survived by his wife Jane Plunkett McDonald; his children Foster McDonald (Ginney) of Huntsville, AL, Kelly Thomas (David) of Decatur, AL, and Wes McDonald (Natalie) of Birmingham, AL; and his stepchildren Judge Liles Burke (Natalie) and Ashley Burke Spethman (Milo), both of Arab, AL. He is also survived by six grandchildren, by whom he was lovingly known as ‘Big Daddy’; Matthew, Oliver and Drew McDonald; Sydney and Burnham Hawk; and Quinn McDonald; and six step-grandchildren, Mary Margaret, Madeline, and Milo (Jr.) Spethman; Claud Liles II and Camilla Jane Burke; and David Thomas III (Buck).

Visitation will be held Thursday, May 21, 2015, at the Arab First Methodist Church from 9 to 11 a.m., followed by the funeral service at 11 a.m. Interment will take place immediately after the funeral service at Arab Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations to either the Arab First Methodist Church Building Fund (1058 N Main St, Arab, AL 35016); or the Alabama Department of Archives and History (Friends of the Alabama Archives, P.O. Box 300100, Montgomery, AL 36130-0100). Gober Funeral Chapel of Arab is assisting the family.