Jeb Stuart Magruder

Magruder Jeb Stuart Magruder, died peacefully on May 11, 2014 in Danbury, CT, due to complications from a stroke. He is survived by his four children and their spouses, Whitney (Jacqueline), Justin (Joyce), Tracy (Scott), and Stuart (Emily); and nine grandchildren. Magruder was born on November 5, 1934, on Staten Island, NY, the younger of two brothers, to Donald and Edith Magruder. Magruder attended Curtis High School on Staten Island, followed by Williams College in Williamstown, MA. Midway through college, he served two years in the US Army in Korea. After graduating from Williams, he began his business career in San Francisco. In 1959, Magruder married Gail Barnes Nicholas. In 1961, they moved to Chicago where Magruder entered the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago to earn his MBA. In 1965, the family moved to Los Angeles, CA. During this period, Magruder worked for various companies including Crown Zellerbach, Jewel, Booz Allen & Hamilton, Broadway and his own cosmetics company. Early in 1969, Magruder was appointed to be the Special Assistant to the President of the United States for Domestic Policy Development, in the Nixon Administration, and the family moved to Washington, D.C. After several years, he was appointed Acting Director and then Deputy Director of the Committee to Reelect the President. Magruder and his team won the election by the second largest margin in history at the time, but his involvement in the Watergate burglary and cover-up resulted in Magruder spending seven months in Federal Prison. Upon his release in 1975, he moved the family to Colorado Springs, CO to work for Young Life. In 1978, the family moved to Princeton, NJ, so he could attend the Princeton Theological Seminary. In 1984, Magruder was ordained as a Presbyterian minister, and he served several churches as associate pastor, in San Mateo, CA and Columbus, OH, and as pastor in Lexington, KY. He married Patti Newton Filipski in 1987, and helped raise her two children, Jennifer and Joseph. Magruder was an outstanding athlete for his entire life, as a competitive swimmer and tennis player, skier, scuba diver and road biker. Magruder wrote two books: An American Life, One Man's Road to Watergate (1974) and From Power to Peace (1978). Burial after cremation will take place at Arlington National Cemetery, and a private family service will be held at that time. Because of his work for Habitat for Humanity in Lexington KY, donations in his memory can be sent to that organization at https://www.habitat.org/cd/giving/one/donate.aspx