Orange County Branch Newsletter

January 2015

In Memoriam

In Memoriam - James McDonald, PE


James McDonald, PE

1953 - 2015

James (Jim) McDonald was born October 8, 1953 and passed away Sunday, January 11, 2015.  Jim has been a beloved partner, friend, colleague and mentor to generations of individuals within the RBF and Michael Baker International families for more than 35 years and will be dearly missed by all those who knew him.

Jim’s career encompassed more than 38 years that started with the County of Orange Environmental Management Agency following graduation from Stanford in 1976 with his MSCE.  Jim joined RBF in 1979 and was named co-President in 1991 with Bob Kallenbaugh.  By 2007, the company had grown to 14 locations and 1,100 employees in three states providing planning, design and construction services to a broad private and public sector market place.  Jim was appointed co-CEO with Bob in 2007 and retired from the Firm in April 2014.

Jim was responsible for the design and management of major, local, large-scale projects including the Interstate 5 and 405 Interchange in Irvine, the Eastern Transportation Corridor, and Newport Coast Drive. Jim was a member of the Board of Directors at the Orange County Rescue Mission and was a private pilot, volunteering his time to fly cancer patients to treatment.

The McDonald family will hold a service in Jim’s memory at 10 a.m. on Saturday, January 17th at Mariners Church located at 5001 Newport Coast Drive in Irvine. In lieu of flowers, the family would be grateful for donations to the Orange County Rescue Mission.  http://www.rescuemission.org

Jim is survived by his wife Carole and their daughters, Jackie and Leslie.

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