James L. McDonald

It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the passing of James Leroy McDonald of Stamford, CT on October 1, 2025, of natural causes. He was 82 and was preceded in death by just three weeks by his beloved wife, Phyllis.

Jim was born November 29, 1942, in Gary, Indiana - the first of five children born to James and Betty McDonald. He attended Lew Wallace School in Gary before the family relocated to Crown Point during his high school years. He graduated from Crown Point High School in 1960. Among his “kid passions” were baseball and the Boy Scouts. He had an impressive baseball card collection (which he never forgave his mother for throwing out!) and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout before moving into his adult years.

Jim attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, graduating in 1965 with a degree in accounting. Among the most formative experiences of his early life was the work/study program at Antioch, which led him to work assignments at The Federal Trade Commission, Lockheed Corporation, and “Big Eight” firms Lybrand, Ross Brothers & Montgomery, and Price Waterhouse. The FTC experience sparked a desire to attend law school, which he did after earning the highest score on the CPA exam in the state of Ohio in 1965. He graduated from The University of Michigan Law School in 1968.

The most important thing that happened at Antioch was meeting his wife of 57 years, Phyllis Golinko, in the first week of his freshman year. Until the end of their lives, Jim often reminded Phyllis that she was “the prettiest girl on campus.”

Jim and Phyllis married in 1968 and Jim began his career at Price Waterhouse the same year, working for the firm until his retirement in 2002. Throughout his successful career with Price Waterhouse, first in New York, then in San Francisco from 1970-1988, and finally back in New York, Jim distinguished himself as an expert in international tax and a respected and loyal colleague, making partner at age 33 and rising to the position of Co-Chairman of the U.S. firm in 1993. He also had the good fortune of making lifelong friendships with Price Waterhouse colleagues, partners, and clients around the world.

Jim’s gift for making and keeping friends is testament to his integrity, character, generosity of spirit, and prolific sense of humor. He loved a good joke and excelled at remembering and telling them; he never forgot a birthday or an anniversary; and he cared deeply for and worked hard at maintaining relationships. At 82, Jim was still in frequent contact with friends from high school, college, law school, San Francisco, Florida, Connecticut and many other stops along the way. Beyond his close friends, people from all walks of life - from the grocery store clerk to the occasional celebrity - appreciated his curiosity, selflessness, good humor, and strict adherence to “The Golden Rule.”

Jim maintained many of his lifelong friendships and made new ones in retirement through his many hobbies, including golf, duck and pheasant hunting, and motorcycle touring. He and Phyllis also loved to play bridge and travel and were avid theater and movie-goers. Also in retirement, Jim served on the Board of Directors of The Platt Brothers & Company in Waterville, CT, for many years.

Above all, Jim loved his family. In 1977, Jim and Phyllis transitioned from gourmet cooking classes and carefree weekends sailing on the San Francisco Bay to parenthood and suburban living in Marin County when their daughter Sarah was born. Jim loved to tell the story about the earthquake that shook San Francisco a few days after Sarah’s birth, when he went racing through the hospital, panicked, to find the new babies unperturbed and sleeping peacefully in the nursery. But his unwavering devotion to Sarah and later to his three grandchildren became a defining characteristic of his remarkable life.

Motivated by the values instilled in him by his wonderful parents, Jim enjoyed loving relationships with his siblings, for whom he was an important role model, and he was a favorite of his many nieces and nephews for his fun-loving, sometimes merciless teasing when the family gathered for frequent reunions through the years. As Phyllis’s health declined in recent years, Jim devoted himself to her care while also attending grandchildren’s soccer games and dance recitals and familiarizing himself with the inside of many hockey rinks. Simply put, Jim was someone who picked up the phone when you called, and his love, guidance and infectious laugh will be missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him.

Jim is survived by his daughter Sarah and grandchildren Conor, Molly, and Cormac Egan; siblings Janet, Robert (Pam), David (Ann), and Thomas (Carla) McDonald; nieces and nephews James Reuter, Sally (Ray), Jane (Adam), Christopher (Alex), Ryan, Jackson (Audra), and Marisa McDonald and Theo, Ivan (Michele), Emily and Noah Golinko. He was preceded in death by his wife Phyllis, son-in-law Patrick, and parents James and Betty McDonald.

Donations in Jim’s memory may be made to Experience Camps, an organization close to his heart that transforms the lives of grieving children through summer camp and other programming.