Keith McDonald of East Hampton, a science teacher at the Tuckahoe School for many years, died at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead on Dec. 13 following a series of medical complications, his family said. He was 75.
Mr. McDonald’s father was in the military, and when he was young the family moved to various military bases around the country. And then it came time for him to serve. He was drafted into the Army, but because he had a degree in biology from the University of Wisconsin, instead of being sent to Vietnam he was assigned to a military laboratory in Natick, Mass.
Each Veterans Day he would remind his family that his service was the reason the Vietcong never took Boston.
“Keith had a keen sense of humor, always joking around, which kept his family and friends laughing,” his family said.
Mr. McDonald was born at Southampton Hospital on July 20, 1947, to Joseph H. McDonald and the former Ruth Anderson. He attended kindergarten at the Amagansett School, and after his father retired from the military he returned to attend East Hampton High School, where he excelled at basketball and enjoyed other sports as a fan or participant, his family said.
At the University of Wisconsin he met Elizabeth (Betsy) Sager, and they were married in 1969 in her hometown of Oconto Falls, Wis. They had a son the following year.
After his military discharge they moved to a house on Boxwood Street in East Hampton, where they lived for the next 50 years.
In addition to his wife, Mr. McDonald is survived by Cynda Bamberger, his daughter-in-law, of Seattle; Kent and Pam McDonald of Tennessee; Barbara and Rick Ambler of Brevard, N.C.; Robert McDonald of Boynton Beach, Fla.; Steven Loper, his nephew, and his wife, Shari, and daughter, Mattie, of West Palm Beach, Fla.; Scott and Amy Loper of Riverhead and their sons, Daniel and Jack, as well as many cousins from both the Anderson and McDonald families. His son, Lance, died before him.
“Keith was a special person and is missed by all who knew him,” his family said, “but most especially by Betsy.”
This article has been changed from its original and print versions to include the names of Mr. McDonald's survivors, which were received after the print edition went to press.