Stewart McDonald (February 20, 1925 – August 26, 2008), born Henry Stewart McDonald, III in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, grew up in Washington, D.C., and served in the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and Korean War veteran of the US AIr Force, including test pilot and

aerial refueling Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft a ...

. He attended

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. He began (pre-

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

)

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

in 1947. After recuperating from a crash, he attended the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

and in 1948 began a long association with

Cypress Gardens Cypress Gardens was a botanical garden and theme park near Winter Haven, Florida that operated from 1936 to 2009. As of 2011, the botanical garden portion had been preserved inside the newly formed Legoland Florida. History Billed as Florida' ...

and the sport of

water skiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or one ski. The sport requires suffic ...

including ABC Sports

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and induction to the Waterski Hall of Fame in 1992. He was the first president of the Florida Motion Picture & Television Association (FMTPA) in

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

. He was also an actor, model, movie producer, raconteur, public speaker, auto-mechanic, humorist, and writer. He was involved in many aspects of television advertisements including Cadillac, Vitalis hair products, and Mercury Outboard motors. He operated water-ski schools in Biscayne Bay and Tampa Bay, was the first rated Senior Judge in 1959, and co-author of the American Water Ski Association Judges Manual and other AWSA manuals. He was a local group leader of the Quiet Birdmen for 32 years and chairman of the national executive committee for two years While racing cars, involvement in the early days of barefoot water skiing, and even black-tie parties he earned the nickname of "Barefoot Stew" and a reputation for vigorously independent thinking He was the biological father of biologist

George M. Church George McDonald Church (born August 28, 1954) is an American geneticist, molecular engineer, chemist, and a serial entrepreneur who is widely regarded as the "Founding Father of Genomics", and a pioneer in personal genomics and synthetic bio ...

at MacDill Air Force Base in 1954. He was director and master of ceremonies of the Water Ski Show at the San Antonio 1968 HemisFair. He was inducted into the Water Skiing Hall of Fame in 1992. He died in 2008 at his home in Tampa, Florida. He was 83 years old.

References

1925 births 2008 deaths United States Army Air Forces officers United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II {{Waterskiing-bio-stub