T. Duncan Macvicar
Resident of Los Altos
T. Duncan Macvicar passed away on March 11th in Los Altos, surrounded by his loving family, after a three year courageous battle against melanoma. He was 76 years old. Duncan lived a life of music, fellowship and service to his community.
Born to Dr. Donald and Jean Macvicar of Cleveland, OH, Duncan embodied his parents’ dedication to leadership and academia. Duncan’s scholarship and patriotism led him to graduate 8th in his class from West Point in ‘65. He served on the Brigade Staff and was President of the WP Glee Club his senior year. Duncan served in Vietnam and earned several honors and medals as a Captain in the Army Corps of Engineers. He returned from Vietnam and he pursued an MA in Physics at UC Berkeley. He resigned from the military in 1971 and joined the high tech world in Silicon Valley. After a career in marketing, he started “Macvicar Associates” as a management consultant for 18 years. He enjoyed working with start-ups and co-authored a book on entrepreneurship, “Managing Hightech Start Ups” with his friend, Darwin Throne.
Duncan dedicated himself to active community service. To name only a portion of his service: Duncan served as president of the Community Services Agency, fought cancer by helping to initiate the Los Altos Relay for Life, healed divisions between public and charter schools on multiple school committees and initiated a cancer support group at the Los Altos United Methodist Church where he and wife, Jeanne were active members. At the time of his passing, Duncan and Jeanne, were dedicated to help an undocumented family gain asylum through LAUMC’S Accompaniment Team. He was also a Changemaker Fellow at LAUMC with a project to benefit veterans unfairly caught in the judicial system.
Duncan was devoted to helping veterans with mental health issues, primarily veterans who returned from combat with diagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and Traumatic Brain Injury. He authored AB 965, state legislation (Veterans/military Resentencing Law) that allows courts to consider PTSD and TBI as mitigating factors in the convictions of Veterans prior to January, 2016. At his own expense, Duncan traveled to 20 counties in Northern CA to help District Attorneys and Judges set up Veterans Treatment Courts. His work with the Veterans Legal Task Force over the last ten years helped increase the number of Veterans Treatment Courts from four to thirty-three in northern California. Duncan was a key member of the Advisory Board of Veterans Healing Veterans From the Inside Out (VHV-FTIO). This organization was founded in San Quentin prison by an incarcerated Marine veteran to provide a structured curriculum for incarcerated veterans. The intention is trauma recovery and suicide prevention. Duncan was awarded the Veteran of the Year Award (Assembly Dist. 24) in 2017 for his work benefiting veterans. Locally, he was honored to receive the John W. Gardner Building Community Award from the Los Altos Community Foundation.
Duncan’s joy centered on music, fellowship and relationship. When he met and married Jeanne in 1971, the couple was often heard harmonizing to duets and love songs. They shared their love of music with their daughter, Bryn Marie. Duncan, Jeanne and Bryn were members of the church choirs at LAUMC (Chancel Choir and Starfire Singers) and have treasured memories of performances and life’s peak experiences in European cathedrals. Natural youth counselors, Duncan and Jeanne chaperoned many Starfire Singers concert tours as part of their dedication to youth. Jeanne and Duncan’s musical fellowship at LAUMC forged friendships that continue after decades.
This summer, Duncan and Jeanne planned to take Bryn and family to Duncan’s ancestral homeland, Scotland, to celebrate an early 50th wedding anniversary. Jeanne, Bryn and husband, Chris, granddaughters, Chloe and Harper will someday make the trip in his honor. Duncan is also survived by brother, Bob (Jane) Macvicar of Nyack, NY and his nephew, Duncan (Jenna) of New York City and a loving extended family. His legacy is revealed in the most often heard statement from those who knew him: “Duncan brought goodness to every circle in which he traveled.”
Memorial services are pending due to virus.