Donald Duncan

Donald G Duncan, passed away on Nov 29, 2014, after a brief illness. He had been residing at his home in College Walk Retirement Home in Brevard, NC. Although Donald was a native of the Bronx of New York City, he considered Northfield, MA his true home. He was born to William and Edith Duncan in 1927. In addition to his parents, he was also predeceased by his beloved sister, Margaret Van Peursem.

He is survived by his wife of sixty-four years, Ruth Duncan and a brother, Robert Duncan. His family includes four children, Kenneth D Duncan of Baltimore , Md, Linda G Shook of Lebanon, Ohio, Laura L Duncan of Richmond, VA, and Carol A Spaulding, of Danbury CT.

The Duncans enjoyed nine grandchildren, Allison Duncan, Stephanie Smith, Rebecca Duncan, Sarah Kesler, Rachel, Daniel and Rebekah Shook, and Andrew and Anna Lee Spaulding.

Don entered Yale University, School of Engineering in 1943, and enlisted in the U.S. Navy when he turned 17 after completing his sophomore year in 1944. After World War II, he returned to Yale and graduated in 1948. He then went on to broaden his education by getting a Masters of Business Administration at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in February, 1950.

Although he had an engineering background, he started working in a management development program with Vick Chemical Company in Philadelphia, even before he got his Wharton degree. He chose a personnel position to broaden his skills. As the company grew, and became Richardson Merrell, Don progressed through several companies throughout the organization, spending some twenty years at Merrell, a major ethical pharmaceutical company located in Cincinnati, Ohio where he was Vice President of Human Relations.

He spent his last ten years with the corporate staff of the company which merged with Procter and Gamble during this period. These years were spent in Connecticut. He decided to turn down an offer to return to Cincinnati with P&G following the merger, choosing instead to take early retirement. At this stage he moved to the Brevard area in 1988.

Foremost among his many interests was traveling, both domestic and international. He photographed the capitols of all 50 states, traveled to 216 countries and voyaged to the North Pole on a Russian icebreaker. There were obviously many adventures encountered in visiting these many locations. His strong interest in history enriched his enjoyment of visits to the actual sites.

He lived actively beyond his life expectancy. Bicycling, swimming and tennis were his favorite sports activities. He swam a mile several times each week until mid-September when the pool closed. He regularly biked 40 miles a day each summer until recent years. A love of nature and hiking led to an interest in birding, and, although he claimed to be a poor birder, he logged in 4,000 birds on his Life List. Gardening was another hobby, along with collecting foreign coins and currencies.
He will be missed by his family, who treasured his leadership abilities, his adventurous spirit, his strong work ethic and his sense of honor, duty and loyalty to family and friends.

A memorial service will be held at Brevard-Davidson River Presbyterian Church on January 2, 2015 at 1:00pm. A family burial service will be held in Northfield Massachusetts at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the following organizations: Brevard-Davidson River Presbyterian Church (249 East Main Street, Brevard, NC 28712, phone 828-884-2645), or the American Diabetes Association (1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383) or at https://donations.diabetes.org ).