Doug MacCarthy was an architect and builder until he went blind in his early 30s. He switched careers and became a banker before becoming a financial adviser.
He made lots of money and knew how to raise more. He became a patron and fundraiser for the arts in St. Louis. He was one of the founders of what is now the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.
He lived on a 2-acre estate in Ladue surrounded by a garden that's been called one of the most beautiful in America. The two homes on his estate are filled with a fabulous collection of artworks, none of which he could see.
Douglas B. MacCarthy died unexpectedly on Monday (June 27, 2011) after he collapsed in the pool at his home and couldn't be revived, his family said. He was 78.
Mr. MacCarthy was reared in Ladue, the son of a banker. For the first three decades of his life, he saw things the way most people do.
He graduated from St. Louis Country Day School in 1950 and Princeton University in 1954. He started an architectural firm and designed a property across the street from what is now Mary Institute and Country Day School's campus.
By age 35, he was completely blind. He was born with retinitis pigmentosa, a disease that causes progressive degeneration of the retina.
Mr. MacCarthy described his condition as "the inconvenience."
He quickly adapted to a new career at the Bank of St. Louis. Since 1998, he was a vice president in the Ladue office of Merrill Lynch.
He often worked at home, or rather, at the two homes on his estate. Summertime, he lived in his pool house. The rest of the year, he spent in his main house.
He got around the estate by himself using the sounds of the 14 fountains on the property as guideposts.
"He heard the different sounds and would know where he was," said a goddaughter, Emily Huber of St. Louis.
Mr. MacCarthy said: "I miss a lot that you can see, but you miss a lot that I can hear."
Mr. MacCarthy helped redesign and rebuild his estate in 1980 along with his friend and business partner, landscape designer Charles W. "Chuck" Freeman. Mr. Freeman died in 2002. They brought in Italian marble for the fountains and wrought-iron gates from England.
The Smithsonian selected Mr. MacCarthy's garden as one of the 100 best in America in the last half of the 20th century.
Away from home, Mr. MacCarthy spent much of his time serving on boards and raising money.
Serving with many of the local arts patron heavyweights, he was president of the board of the First Street Forum, which later became the Contemporary Art Museum.
He was the first president of the Missouri Citizens for the Arts organization. He was past president of the Forum for Contemporary Arts and served on the boards of the Missouri Botanical Garden, the St. Louis Art Museum, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Missouri Mansion Preservation. He raised money for Opera Theatre of St. Louis.
"Because I've been fortunate enough to score a couple of big fundraising hits," he told the Post-Dispatch in 1980, "they never put me on the 'artistic' committees when I join a board — always the financial or development side."
Nevertheless, he said he was developing an appreciation for the arts and he began collecting 20th-century lithographs and sculpture and 18th-century English and American antiques.
He and his partner Freeman traveled the world visiting the great museums. Mr. MacCarthy said Freeman acted as his eyes, describing art in such detail that Mr. MacCarthy could visualize it.
Huber said of her godfather: "Because of the way he carried himself and the way he talked about art, many people had no clue that he was blind."
In recent years, his friend Edward Van Kast became his "eyes."
A graveside service will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at Bellefontaine Cemetery.
Survivors, in addition to his goddaughter, include another goddaughter, Lucy Huff of Denton, Texas; and his sister, Ann Parke of Tallahassee, Fla.
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