Robert Earl McDonald
June 23, 1935-June 8, 2025
Palo Alto, California
Robert Earl McDonald of Palo Alto, CA passed away peacefully on June 8, 2025 at age 89. He was born on June 23, 1935 in Wichita Falls, TX, the son of Richard T. McDonald and Mabel Inez McDonald (Smith).
From a young age, Bob was driven to figure out how everything worked and soon could build or repair just about anything. He loved electronics and often used his skills for mischievous purposes—convincing his youngest brother to serve as a human voltmeter, tapping into the telephone junction box to eavesdrop on his older sister’s conversations with her boyfriend, and shocking his family members by electrifying doorknobs in the house. He eventually found a more respectable use for his talents when he took a job fixing and building radios at a repair shop.
After graduating from Wichita Falls High School in 1953, Bob attended Stanford University, where he earned a B.S. and M.S. in physics, an M.S. in mathematics, and a Ph.D. in physics. His summers in Texas could not have been more different from his academic life: he worked several stints as a “roughneck” on oil rigs, a dangerous and dirty job, though one that paid well.
At a graduate school party at Stanford, Bob once tried to impress an economics graduate student by betting her he could iron a shirt in under two and a half minutes. He won the bet and eloped with Marilyn Margaret Miller a few months later. They set up house in a trailer in Los Altos Hills at first, then traveled to England, where Bob pursued postdoctoral studies in physics at Oxford University. Upon their return to the US, they bought a house in Palo Alto and had four children—Regan, Evan, Page, and Karin—in quick succession. They were married for 62 years until Marilyn’s death in 2021.
Bob began his career at Lockheed Missiles and Space and then started his own company, Spectral Precision, Inc., where he designed and built laser spectrometers and high speed valves for physics labs all over the world.
Outside of work, he enjoyed traveling, swimming, sailing, and especially listening to classical music. For many years, he made music as a member of the choir at the First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto. Later in life, he spent several days a week helping out at the church, flexing his fix-it skills on the lights, the boiler, and anything else that needed his expertise.
Bob loved dogs and provided a gentle scratch or cozy lap for a long line of lucky rescues. With people, Bob could be taciturn, but when he spoke, he would often say something exceptionally silly, witty, or profound.
Bob is survived by his children, Regan, Evan, Page, and Karin; his grandchildren, Tatum, Payton, Lachlan, Coraline, Zoe, and Fiona; his brother, David; and many nieces and nephews.
Preceding him in death are his wife, Marilyn; parents, Richard and Mabel; and siblings, Mary, Ruth, James, Christine, Tom, and George.
