TERRENCE M. MACDONALD

1937 - 2025

MacDONALD, Terrence M. A man of many talents, many friends, many jokes, and - as an ad man - many taglines. Terrence M. MacDonald of Portsmouth and Holderness, NH, died on July 23, 2025, three weeks short of his 88th birthday, after a brief illness. He leaves his wife of 65 years, Peg MacDonald; his daughter, Karen Lynch, of Winchester, MA, his son-in-law, Fred Lynch; and grandsons, Henry and Owen Lynch and Owen's long time partner, Hannah Geller. Terry was a man of many talents, many friends, many jokes, and - as an ad man - many taglines. A few of those taglines: "I just got a bargain." (Filene's Basement) "Today's neighborhood drugstore." (CVS) "Born in a great steakhouse." (Ken's Salad Dressings). Terry MacDonald was a man whom many would call a legend in Boston advertising, from the '70s until his retirement in the early 2000s. He began his career as an account executive at Boston's Doremus Advertising in 1961, soon moving on to the Boston branch of BBDO as copywriter, before joining a small creative shop called Pearson Guy Weiss. By 1972, Pearson and MacDonald became a darling of Boston's boutique ad agency world. From there, he went on to lead several other highly respected creative agencies. For ten years, he was an Adjunct Professor at BU's College of Communication, teaching "Creative Development in Advertising" to students from all over the world. During the course of his career, Terry nurtured many young copywriters and art directors who went on to start their own agencies. Many of today's advertising professionals, in Boston, New York, and beyond, got their start under Terry MacDonald's tutelage. Outside the advertising industry, Terry served for 15 years on the Board of Directors of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts and was the 1996 recipient of the organization's Mollie Moon Volunteer Service Award. He continued this type of community work during his retirement in Portsmouth, NH, where he worked with the NAACP's Seacoast Branch, sometimes accompanying defendants on their court dates, offering them moral support.  He satisfied his interest in social activism professionally while working on the election campaigns of Gerry Studds and Ted Kennedy.   Terry started playing gigs at 14 (drums), paid his way through college, toured the world one summer with the USO, studied under jazz greats and later, played alongside some: including Roger Kellaway, John Neves, Dick Sudhalter, Joe Raposo, Dick Johnson, Phil Wilson, Sadao Watanabe, Bruce Cale, Bob Winter, Lenny Hambro, Brad Terry, and so many others.  His musicianship often informed his advertising work - particularly in one such case when he hired a young singer/songwriter to create a jingle for one of his clients. Carly Simon was her name. In his retirement, Terry returned to his avocation, sitting in during Tuesday night's Jazz Jam at the Press Room in Portsmouth, NH. He also hosted a jazz radio show for WSCA-FM in Portsmouth, NH, and also formed his own jazz trio, "Dry Martini." He spent summers on Squam Lake in a house he built from the foundation up, with his father, on weekends over four years. He also made special fly fishing trips, both to the American West with his father and ad friend, Mark Myers, and annually to Maine fishing camps with his grandsons and another ad buddy, Ralph Moxcey. Terry was born in Brighton, MA, to Ruth (McLaughlin) MacDonald and G. Milton MacDonald, on August 10, 1937. Raised in Auburndale, he was one of six children: Terry, Janet, Joseph, Ruth, Wayne, and Susan, all of whom predeceased him. He also leaves sister-in-law Janet MacDonald; half-sister Patty Stevens; and many adoring nieces and nephews. Terry whistled while he worked - and also while he played. He felt that, as a boss, the best sound he could hear was the laughter of his employees wafting down the hallway. He loved an extra dry Bombay martini with a twist, and he will be sorely missed by his family, whom he loved with all his heart and to whom he showed it every day. May we all be as lucky as Terry and be able to say, "I got my money's worth" at the end of the day. Per his request, there will be no Services. Contributions in his memory may be made to the Council for Secular Humanism, Box 741, Amherst, NY 14226-9819, or secularhumanism.org/donate

View the online memorial for Terrence M. MacDONALD