Ken MacDonald

Ken MacDonald, age 78, of Upper Sandusky, has died after a long illness, at Marion General Hospital.

He was born in 1947, in Salem, Massachusetts, to Reginald and Lucille (Byron) MacDonald.

He and his spouse Gregg Friedberg were married in August 2015, but have been together nearly fifty years.

Ken grew up in Madeira (suburban Cincinnati) where his family moved when he was three years old - his father, who worked on jet engines, was transferred to the then-new General Electric Evendale plant. Ken and his three brothers Frank, Douglas, and David (all of whom died before him) had a pleasant childhood, times that Ken recalled fondly.

Ken moved to Columbus to go to college, spent an interpolated psychedelic year in San Francisco, then graduated from Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin American history. During this time he was part-owner of a (vinyl) record store across from campus: Pearl Alley Discs.

Upon graduation, he worked at the OSU hospital as assistant manager in the transportation department, tasked with writing their first formal manual. During that time he met Gregg, and they decided to make a life together, which shortly included a change of profession: they began a career of computer programming, developing the first automated applications for rural Ohio county governments.

One of their clients was Wyandot County, and, because they particularly liked Upper Sandusky, they moved there from German Village, to the Tudor-revival house on South Sandusky Avenue, where they lived for nearly forty years, the care and maintenance of which became an ongoing project for Ken. Indeed, he took care of the house, inside and out, as were it a piece of fine furniture.

Ken very much enjoyed reading - especially history and biography. This and his keen interest in civic projects beneficial to the community led to his service as president of the Upper Sandusky Community Library board of directors. His term coincided with the onset of the Republican supermajority in the state legislature in Columbus and so with substantial reduction of state contributions to local funding including funds for the library. Ken and his colleagues at the library led the campaign for the local library tax levy to compensate for the lost state funding, which levy was approved by the voters then and has been since.

Likewise motivated, Ken became chairman of the Wyandot County Democratic Party organization, during which tenure he became friends with Sherrod Brown, hosted fundraisers at his home for Sherrod’s past campaigns.

In 2009, he and Gregg bought a house in Guanajuato, Mexico, a town with a large university and world-renowned arts and culture festival, and soon Ken became an officer in the organization Brillantes Caminantes, a charity providing university scholarships for academically outstanding but poor students, which gave Ken much satisfaction.

Besides reading, Ken was always interested in photography. He set up a dark room in the basement for development of black-and-white photographs. And once their work schedules permitted and he and Gregg traveled to various parts of the world, Ken took abundant photographs, some of which were awarded prizes in art shows.

Friends and family will be gathering on his birthday in July, in remembrance of him, of the good times together through all the years. Memorial donations may be made to Sherrod Brown’s senate campaign. Or to Brillantes Caminantes: bcgto.org/donate/ Or to the Upper Sandusky Community Library.

Ken is survived by Gregg, his spouse, by his sister-in-law Margaret MacDonald, sister-in-law Leslye Friedberg, brother-in-law Scott Friedberg, and by nieces Kris, Beth, Leslie, Jaimie, and Suzanne, and by nephews David and Grant. Also by grandnieces Jill, Mallory, and Morgan, and by grandnephew Garret.