Celebrating Kenny Mac

Celebrating Kenny Mac

March 18, 1942 to May 31, 2006

Born a BIG DREAMER, wild and generous, from New York city.

He was the oldest of 3 boys with a doting Mother and hard working father who worked for the New York City Police.  His long blond curly locks and sky blue eyes made all mothers look twice!  Tall at 6'3", an athletic body for sure – he was turned down for little league but didn’t let a big ‘no’ stop him and inspired him to make it big in basketball.  So there MLB!

His love of basketball, as a young boy, was why he taped a basketball to his hand while he slept at night ...to shoot hoops hundreds of them daily.   He practiced and trained and did it more than anyone else. He never ever - ever -thought of defeat, he only thought of success in everything he did.

New York super stardom!   A basketball player winning the MVP in the N.I.T., 1965, for St Johns college - the newspapers loved him and his playboy looks.  Heartbreak - he had a short career with the Atlanta Hawks as his knees were torn up.

His restaurants The Salty Dog - all five - were where the famous came to play at night.  There are hundreds of stories of how Kenny Mac gave everyone who needed a job - a place to earn, giving money or whatever was needed to help out a friend.  His heart was as BIG as NYC.

Ohhh the 70's... he travelled the world surfing the big waves (north shore 35' waves in Hawaii - yes - with pictures to prove it!) Peru, France and by the time they hit South Africa his son Shayne was born.

The surf boards were 'loaded up' with adventure stories!  (fill in the blanks here)

Aspen, in the 80's, this was not his last stop on this world-wide crazy life adventures, and on to San Diego for a few years.  He had to make the major life changes if was to live another day – to live a sober life.   His colorful past although wild, different and amazing was also filled with hurt and tragedy because of addictions.

Quickly winning the Ford Motor company salesman of the year for all of California he was making his new career in sales just in time to head south of the border in 1991 to a little dusty fishing village called Cabo San Lucas.   He took one look at the endless beaches and pure sunshine and said - this area will explode and be just like ASPEN, CO, one day - and not too far in the future.   Was he ever right!

Oh yeah – this is important - Kenny grows his hair long and looks like a rock star.

Here, in Cabo San Lucas, sober 2 years, without a hundred bucks in his pocket, he tried his hand at real estate for the newest area called Cabo Real.   Without even a sign out front along the empty highway he somehow managed to sell a few places.   Then on a brief trip back to San Diego in 1993 to 'clean up' some of his past - he was picked up by San Diego’s finest and sent to 'summer camp'.  (a small misunderstanding about taxes...)

Luckily – he was allowed back to Cabo (the judge, a fellow Bill W. Friend, loved Kenny) in December of 1993 and he ended up in a beach front home working for a Doctor to help create a small housing development eventually called Colina Blanca.  Living right on the Sea of Cortez - such a beautiful location - and of course he had many women hanging around!  (hmmm... topless on the beach)

This is where there is truth to, ‘love at first sight,’ when he sees Debra for the first time, in a car with his friend Jerry M., on her way up the driveway to the Westin.

Kenny stalks Debra for 6 weeks, not paying any attention to ‘no’ you are not for me’ - and to make this long story short – on their first date – he holds her hand and they fall in love – and get married November 23, 1996.   Imagine this - he takes on her three kids (only a New Yorker could do that one) and they make a life together.   His wild hair and wild life stories mixed with her Canadian ‘apple pie’ history made quite the love story.

So, it is today, like most days, that I reflect on this man who touched hundreds of lives. He was the best Dad to Shayne, Toni, Robyn & Michael. There are very few people like him and his amazing and generous spirit lives forever. He is unforgettable.

He was deeply loved and missed by his friends and his family, and especially me.