Malcolm McAfee

1925 - 2021

Malcolm McAfee
May 26, 1925March 7, 2021
Lapsley Malcolm McAfee was born in Nanjing China to Wallace McAfee and Edna Clark McAfee. A multi-generation Bay Area resident, his grandfather was pastor of the Berkeley Presbyterian Church and his mother was a psychology graduate from UC Berkeley.
In his youth, Malcolm read an entire encyclopedia while visiting relatives on the Canadian shore of Lake Memphremagog. He then earned a BA from the University of Chicago, and his Bachelor of Divinity and PhD in Sociology from Yale. As a young academic, he taught at Georgia Tech and Davidson College. He later worked for the Presbyterian church in various capacities, including as a campus minister at Stanford and an education leader at church HQ in Philadelphia. There Malcolm mobilized fellow clergy to attend the Selma to Montgomery civil rights march in 1965. In his 50s he became an early online education pioneer, starting Paideia in 1993, recognized as one of the first virtual, global universities. He received the 2013 Fred Castro Lifetime Achievement Award from the Web Education Foundation for six decades of work combining adult learning paradigms, web technology, and individualized learning alternatives in a global context.
Malcolm was married to Betty McAfee (1948-1973), a Berkeley schoolteacher, filmmaker and photographer. He later married Marcella DeCray (1985-2011), renowned harpist with the San Francisco Ballet, who predeceased him. With Betty, he was the beloved parent of Tim (Mika), Prill (Diane), and Chris (Kat), who survive him along with eight grandchildren (Jenna, Kate, Greg, Nat, Annie, Thea, Colin, and Jura) and two great-grandchildren (Rhea and Sage). With Marcella, he took on the role of stepfather to her children Lael and Lexi. In addition to his immediate family, Malcolm's vision and spirit is survived by his close colleagues and friends around the world, including Ken, Josefa, Dennis, Stevie, Ted, Oscar, Trey, Chizu and Annika.
Malcolm spent the last years of his life at Rhoda Goldman Plaza in San Francisco. He remained active in civic life, serving on the Board of Directors of ArtSeed and as their sociologist-in-residence at the Presidio. Malcolm died peacefully surrounded by family at Kaiser hospital on Geary, where he was a member for over 50 years.
A virtual memorial celebration of Malcolm's life will be held. For information contact malcolmmcafee@gmail.com