Loading...
MacArthur An Era Has Ended (PBPost Times) 1-7-78Ace...�l97?(gt{7 MacArthur: An Era Has Ended Staff Photo by Jonn J. LOpinor Bob Ho e' Said MacArthur Cared About Everyone He Met Ate^ 4P 14?�Sr97 Staff Artwork by Jim Johnston Two of the things MacArthur took the most pride in were the JDM Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens and the Biltmore Hotel in Palm Beach. MacArthur sold the Biltmore for $5.34 million to developer Stanley J. Harte a few months ago. Jack Nicklaus was a friend of Mac - Arthur's and won the World Cup and PGA Championship at MacArthur's country club. MacArthur Doctolr --Reports Death W'as N'-atural, Painless By GAYLE PALLESEN Post Staff Writer John Donald MacArthur, the legendary rags -to -riches billionaire who lived every com- mon man's dream, died of cancer of the pan- creas early yesterday morning. Death came to the 80 -year-old Palm Beach Shores resident hours after he slipped into a coma. He was pronounced dead at 2:12 a.m. by Dr. Frank Pedrosa at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach. "It was a very natural death, pain-free and with dignity,". Ron Kairalla, a visibly shaken aide, told a morning press conference. Flags were flown at half-staff in Palm Beach Gardens, a town MacArthur built from swampland. His widow, Catherine Hyland MacArthur, is holding up well, according to her sister, Patri- cia Hyland, who is staying with her at the Colonnades Beach Hotel on Singer Island. "This is how John would have wanted it. He wouldn't have wanted to end up in a nursing home," Miss Hyland said quietly. Her brother-in-law lost 20 pounds in the past month and spent most of December hos- pitalized for dehydration, exhaustion and what was thought to be a gall bladder problem. Ex- ploratory surgery Tuesday uncovered the can- cer, and he was given two weeks or less to live by doctors. At MacArthur's request there will be no funeral. He will be cremated. Services will be private for family members. , In. lieu. of flowers, the family said friends are welcome to make donations to the charities of their choice. The bulk of MacArthur's estate will go to two charitable foundations with half of all his tangible property going tax-free to his wife. The other half, after taxes, will be divided equally between his son John Roderick, and Roderick's children and MacArthur's daughter, Virginia de Cordova, and her children. From around the nation, celebrities and others had warm words for the man who start- ed with nothing and built a financial empire. tjo k e s always amused him and he never lost his sense of humor in his real-life game of Mono- poly. Story, A4 Bath took a man who thought he was a f ailu.re, de- spite his millions, and a man who was amazed people were interested in him. Story, A5 oney didn 9 t make MacArthur a re- cluse or a remote emperor like Howard Hughes or J. Paul Getty. He was a very public roman. Editorial, A22, "He was truly an original," said comedian Bob Hope. "He was a quiet,, warm giant of our society and a giant, not j ast in business, but in his positive and idealistic attitude toward life." Hope and MacArthur were old friends. In fact, the crusty billionaire named the fanciest suite in his Colonnades Beach Hotel after the comedian and the two , once were photographed with MacArthur wearing a waiter's outfit serv- ing Hope coffee in the suite's king-size bed. `He cared about everyone he met — from international dignitaries to the man on the street," Hope said while preparing for a per- formance in Boston. "He was a man of humor and quite a story- teller, by the way. I told him at' one time that I was glad he didn't enter show business as I wouldn't have welcomed the competition," Hope said. Another close friend, commentator Paul Harvey, dedicated part of his midday radio broadcast to the passing of MacArthur. "I don't think Francis of Assisi was a bet- ter friend to dogs, birds and uprooted trees," Harvey told The Post prior to his broadcast. He once labeled MacArthur as the man who has "buttered the toast for the Harveys going on a third generation now." "If I was going to write John MacArthur's epitaph, it would be something simple, like: "He left the wood pile higher than he found it." Former President Gerald Ford, who ar- rived in Palm Beach County yesterday for a day of golf, said he knew MacArthur for a Turn to MACARTHUR, AS ppiLrn Bt-f'ac14 6rlim�s JAN. 7 number of years and had played golf with him. "I remember one incident with some nos- talgia. We were playing, he came out and actually acted as caddy as we were playing on this particular. day," Ford said, adding that the country has lost "an outstanding citizen." Jim Steli, who has been MacArthur's bar- ber for 15 years, and last shaved the billion- aire the day ' before Christmas, said he broke down when learning of his friend's death. "He was the greatest man I'have ever known, and I have known a lot of people," he said in a thick Italian accent. "He never re- fused me anything. He always said yes. He never said no." State Senate President -designate Phi! Lewis of West Palm Beach said he felt "very close" to MacArthur and called him a "pioneer" who reminded him very much of his own father. "For some reason, I just can't get over that the guy is gone," Lewis said. "He is going to be a loss to the county. People don't realize — he was an industry in himself. There was nothing he wouldn't do to bring the economy up . " "The beauty of John MacArthur was he shook hands meaningfully with some of the most powerful men in the world and shook hands just as meaningfully with the man out there who did the yard," Kairalla said. MacArthur was one of two billionaires left in the United States and he was labeled both "brilliant" and "humble" by Jerry Thomas, former undersecretary of the Treasury De- partment. "He once told me if ever a book was factu- ally written about him, he wanted it called "Luck." 6Luck " But, believe me — luck helps, but so sloes creativity," Thomas said. "To rise from the humblest type of finan- caa.l origin to reach the heights as one of the wealthiest and powerful men in the 9 world should not pass unnoted at this time, said Palm Beach developer Stanley J. Harte, who nought the Biltmore Hotel in Palm Beach from MacArthur a few months ago for $5.34 million. Harte, who has renamed the most posh suite ii -4 the building after the tycoon, said MacArthur proved there is no limit to what can be achieved under the American way of life. Golfer Jack Nicklaus, who won the World Cup and PGA Championship at MacArthur's Palm Beach Gardens country club said his friendshhip with the man goes back to 1971. MacArthur had "a good sense of humor" the golfer said and was "pleasant to be with through the years." In the will, which leaves most of his money to charity, MacArthur wanted to leave his body to science. But friends said because of his age and disease, that won't be possible. "I am mindful of the fact that most people attend funerals only as a matter of duty and in order to be seen by others in attendance," he wrote in the will made out Feb. 19, 1963. However, he said he wouldn't mind in a month or so if his wife wants a memorial service or get together. "Such a function would present a reason- able opportunity and excuse for my relatives and friends to get together for a visit and — perhaps with the aid of a drink or two — to reminisce, as people like to do, over past events and departed friends," MacArthur said in his will. Aceo 14* -00 19 7s' N7 The will was filed yesterday in the probate division of Circuit Court in Chicago, where the keystone of his wealth — Bankers Life and Casualty Co. — has headquarters. His attorney, William T. Kirby, said most of the billionaire's assets were assigned to two trusts set, up while MacArthur . was still alive. The trusts, upon his death, went to two charitable foundations, the John D. and Cath- erine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Re- tirement Research Foundation. The trust which goes to the MacArthur foundation includes all the stock of Bankers Life and Casualty Co. which has assets of $1.- 24 billion. All of his stock in Citizens Bank and Trust Co. of suburban Park Ridge goes to the Retirement Research Foundation. The bank has resources of $415 million. Included in the will is $5,000 for MacAr- thur's first wife, Louise Ingals MacArthur, who is the mother of his two children. "It will be some months before an accurate estimate can be made of the value of the assets that go to the family," Kirby said. "A low preliminary figure of over. $1 million in real estate and over $1 million in personal property" is stated in the will.