Donald Roger Hazeltine

Hazeltine, Donald Roger
June 18, 1926 - May 31, 2011

Donald Roger Hazeltine, Sarasota died May 31, 2011.
A friend said recently that Don Hazeltine taught him that the only good deal was one that was good for both sides. Mr. Hazeltine died Tuesday, May 31, 2011, in Sarasota; he was 84.
Along with his business partner, Richard Shepard, they were known in Evansville, Ind. as the men behind the Golden Arches. Messrs. Hazeltine and Shepard opened the 82nd McDonald's in 1959, just four years after Ray Kroc opened the first franchise of the ubiquitous hamburger chain. Over the course of 31 years, the two partners operated 12 McDonald's restaurants in Indiana and Kentucky, where thousands of young men and women got their first work experience. The two were also members of the first graduating class of Hamburger University.
Restaurant suppliers and business associates recalled Mr. Hazeltine as an astute negotiator who would later reveal his concern that business agreements work well for both parties. Despite relentless efforts to keep menu prices low, he often acknowledged the fact that being the biggest customer of some local suppliers bore a unique responsibility to make certain those businesses remained successful.
Mr. Hazeltine was born in Beloit, Wis., the only son of Kenneth Ray Hazeltine and Hazel Buck Hazeltine.
During World War II, Mr. Hazeltine served aboard the USS Pickaway in the U.S. Navy as a Seaman First Class. He later returned to Beloit and attended Rockford Business College.
Mr. Hazeltine began his business career at Sears Roebuck & Co., first in Beloit and later in Joliet, Ill. It was at Sears that he met Mr. Shepard and together, they researched entrepreneurial opportunities that led to McDonald's.
Mr. Hazeltine served as the first president of Oak Meadow Golf Club of Evansville, Ind., as a director of Old National Bank, and on the University of Southern Indiana Foundation. In 2002, USI awarded him and his wife, Gladys Allene (Hanna) Hazeltine, honorary Doctor of Law degrees. He previously served on the Joliet (Illinois) Grade School Board, and was a member of the Royal Order of Jesters with the Sahib Shrine Temple, and the Morning Star Lodge #10 F. & A.M. in Beloit (Wisconsin). An avid golfer, Mr. Hazeltine was a member of Evansville Country Club and Laurel Oak Country Club in Sarasota.
In addition to Mr. Hazeltine's wife of 61 years, Allene, he is survived by his son, Mark Steven Hazeltine (wife, Elizabeth Greene Hazeltine) of Arlington Heights, Ill.; son, Hugh Jonathan Hazeltine (wife, Sharissa Rogers Hazeltine) of St. Petersburg, Fla.; daughter, Anne Louise Hazeltine of Bloomington, Ind.; and grandsons, Philip Donald Hazeltine of Boulder, Colo. and Ross Michael Jae Hazeltine of Tempe, Ariz. He was preceded in death by an infant sister, Eleanor Jane Hazeltine, and an infant daughter, Donna Allene Hazeltine.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 18, 2011 at the Chapel of Remembrance at Alexander Memorial Park Cemetery in Evansville at 4 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests support for your local Ronald McDonald House or for the University of Southern Indiana Foundation in Evansville.