Douglas Edwin Winkworth

Douglas Edwin Winkworth
2/27/1945 to 8/25/2022
Doug Winkworth died peacefully in his sleep the early morning of August 25th at the Southfield home he shared with his loving wife of 53 years, Mary Beth Winkworth. Doug was cherished by his son Rob, Rob s wife Diana and his grandson Owen. He is survived by his brother Paul and his wife Susan.
The son of Ned (Navy ret) & Dorothy Winkworth (Barker), Doug was born in South Bend, Indiana on February 27th of 1945 when his father was stationed at Notre Dame. The oldest of three bothers, (Paul and David d.2014) Doug and his family moved to the Grosse Pointe area where he spent most of his childhood, attending Austin Catholic Preparatory and then The University of Detroit on an athletic scholarship for basketball. The family would spend their summers on Harsen s Island at a family home known as Old Comfort which was Doug s most sacred spot to think and watch the river go by .
Doug and Mary Beth (DiMambro) met their freshman year at the University of Detroit in September of 1963 and were married on December 27th 1968. Doug graduated from U of D with a bachelor s degree in architecture and a Masters in Urban Economics.
Doug started his career as an Urban Planner at Vilican-Lehman about the same time as the birth of his son Rob in 1971. He would later move into a family business, Northend Properties & DiMambro Construction of Oak Park. In 1983 Doug joined Kirco Realty and Development as Executive Vice President where he oversaw numerous projects that redesigned the Troy landscape including the Willshire properties and the first stage of the Columbia Center buildings.
Following Kirco, Doug & Mary Beth pursued a lifelong dream in 1995 with Rob and Diana when they opened Festivities, a Birmingham retail store that specialized in accessories for entertaining and event planning. The business evolved into Festivities Studio where Doug excelled at graphic design for Detroit area corporations, non-profits, weddings and events, an endeavor he loved until the day he passed.
Doug found his life s passion in his community service work, particularly as a board member for a variety of non-profit organizations including as former president of both the University of Detroit s Titan Club and Children s Hospital charity the Festival of Trees. Additionally, he loved being a volunteer coach for his son s youth baseball, soccer & basketball teams.
Doug s proudest achievement was as a board member of The Roeper School of Bloomfield Hills & Birmingham where he sat as the board s longest serving chairperson from 1992 to 2005. Doug was instrumental in the capital improvement of Roeper and was known for his passion for the school s philosophy and his care for its students and teachers. He greatly enjoyed his relationships with the heads of school that served during his tenure and especially with school founder Annemarie Roeper.
A memorial for Doug will be held this fall.
Expressions of sympathy in celebration of Doug s life, may be made in his honor as contributions to The Roeper School. www.Roeper.org/donate (Please select Financial Aid and Scholarship from the drop down menu.)