Douglas: Brought Rockets to OC; Shady’s Big Deal

The death last month of Donald Douglas Jr. recalled a bygone era. Longtime aviation exec-turned-corporate consultant Al Melrose, who started in Douglas Aircraft’s flight-test division in 1952, reminisced: “Rivalry in the aerospace industry was evident in Orange County in the late 1950s. Lockheed purchased a factory site for manufacturing printed circuit boards near the current John Wayne Airport. Douglas, not to be outdone, purchased a prime location at the intersection of Campus and Mac-Arthur and Junior, as he was called, was placed in charge of the Astronautics (for advanced defense systems) offices.” Junior succeeded his dad as company president in 1957 and introduced the DC-8 and DC-9; in 1963 he opened the plant that put Huntington Beach into the space race. Financial problems forced him in 1967 to combine the company with McDonnell Aircraft (McDonnell Douglas in turn became part of Boeing). In 1972 Junior played a key role in developing Douglas Plaza, 50 acres by John Wayne Donald Bren and Henry and Susan Samueli repeat on BusinessWeek’s list of the 50 Most Generous Philanthropists out last week. Bren checks in at $427 million in giving for 2000-2004, the Samuelis at $124 million. Others on the list include OC vacationers Warren Buffett and Pierre and Pam Omidyar and Martha Ingram, a big shareholder in Santa Ana’s Ingram Micro Another record for Shady Canyon: two lots at the Irvine custom-home development have gone for $9 million, the highest price for land not on the water. The buyer plans to build one home on the more than 1.5 acres What do comedian/talk show host Dennis Miller and New Century Financial Prez Brad Morrice have in common? They gained fame and fortune after they left law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips Memo to Isuzu’s Upland office: Mike Stone hasn’t been the editor here for 15 years. At last check he was with Freedom House in Kyrgyzstan Try the egg burrito at Tustin Ranch GC Twenty-seven years ago Mary McGeachy was a producer’s assistant and Ed Miskevich was an intern at WNET, the PBS station in New York. Today, they bump into each other in OC,McGeachy’s with Rodheim Marketing Group, Miskevich is assistant station manager of KOCE-TV Women’s work: Females hold 28 of the 42 jobs at the OCBJ and head four of the five departments.z