Norm Macdonald, meteorologist for WBZ, wrote for Sunday Citizen
Tuesday, April 23, 2002
YORK, Maine — Norman J. MacDonald, 77, of York died in York Hospital on Sunday, April 21, 2002, after a long battle with cancer, a result of radiation exposure.
Mr. Macdonald was born in Boston, Mass., on Aug. 15, 1924, the son of Malcolm J. and Mabelle (Warner) Macdonald. He graduated from Chevy Chase High School in Maryland. He graduated from CalTech with a bachelor of science degree in science and master of science in meteorology. He did extended graduate work at MIT.
Mr. Macdonald served in the U.S. Navy on active duty and in the reserves from 1942 to 1963. In 1952, he was part of the team at Eniwetok, the detonation for the first H-Bomb, for which he received Congressional recognition. He did extensive research at High Altitude Observatory, University of Colorado, Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories and 10 years at the meteorology department at MIT.
Norm Macdonald was the meteorologist on WBZ-TV from 1960 to 1977, at which time he embarked on his radio career with Weather Services and then with AccuWeather. While at AccuWeather, he began doing forensic meteorology and continued this until recently.
After retiring, he did extensive investigations of the Global Warming hypothesis. He and his research associate presented their research to the United Nations in 1993 and he presented the same to a U.S. Congressional Committee. Over his professional career, he had three dozen formal publications in scientific journals.
He and his wife, Carol, moved to York in 1992. He wrote weather-related articles for Foster’s Sunday Citizen and the York Weekly.
As an active member of the First Parish Church, he served on the Diaconate, Men’s Fellowship and was the master of ceremonies for the annual “Christmas in the Village” concert. He was an active member of the Lion’s Club and was presented the prestigious Melvin Jones award. He was a mentor for several young people in the York School System and served the Little League in York.
He leaves his wife, Carol (Schreiber, Gurner); sons, Collin of Hawaii and Brian and his wife, Brenda of Dracut, Mass.; daughters, Christina of Clifton, Va., and Lauren Piechowicz and her husband, Edward of Granville, Ohio; stepson, Joel Gurner of Fort Meyers, Fla.; stepdaughters, Hilary Steinberg of Boalsburg, Pa., and Sarah Gurner of South Berwick, Maine; and nine grandchildren.
