Donald L. McDowell, a Vanderbilt University administrator during the tenure of Chancellor Alexander Heard, died May 27 in Yarmouth, Maine. He was 79.
McDowell came to Vanderbilt in 1974 as executive director of operations and fiscal planning. He was named vice chancellor for business affairs in June 1976 before receiving a title change that December of vice president for business affairs, a position in which he served until leaving the university in 1980.
A native of Indianapolis, McDowell earned an accounting degree from Ohio State University in 1956. He worked for General Motors in the Chevrolet division before joining the State University System of Florida in 1961, where he worked first as the controller at the University of Florida in Gainesville, then for the Florida Board of Regents in Tallahassee. McDowell was instrumental in the founding of Florida International University, which opened in Miami in 1972.
Following his six years at Vanderbilt, McDowell went to work at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine, where he rose to the rank of president. He helped create the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center and went on to be president of MaineHealth, from which he retired in 2001.
McDowell served on numerous boards, including the Greater Portland United Way, Portland Chamber of Commerce, Maine Hospital Association, Portland Symphony Orchestra, Maine Bank and Trust, University of Maine System, Konbit Sante, Goodwill Industries of Northern New England, and the Southern Maine Agency on Aging. An avid baseball fan, he closely followed the St. Louis Cardinals and enjoyed watching the Portland Sea Dogs, as well as spending time with his family at their camp on Pleasant Lake in Casco, Maine.
McDowell is survived by his wife of 58 years, Marilyn; daughter Cathy O’Sheal and husband Steven of Birmingham, Alabama; daughter Carrie Snider, an administrative assistant at the Vanderbilt School of Nursing, and husband Earl of Old Hickory, Tennessee; sons Don McDowell (Andi) of Ellicott City, Maryland; Paul “Larry” McDowell (Tracy) of Asheville, North Carolina; and Sean “Tom” McDowell (Diane), of Yarmouth; 13 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated May 30 in Yarmouth. Donations in McDowell’s memory may be made to: The Don McDowell Memorial Fund for the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center, Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital Development Office, 22 Bramhall St., Portland, Maine 04102.