Leonard "Bud" William Macatee

Longtime Anchorage resident Leonard William “Bud” Macatee, age 94,died on St. Patrick’s Day at the Emerald View Assisted Living facility in Anchorage. Bud had been under hospice care. Bud was born in Los Angeles on June 25,1930, the youngest of 10 children to Helen A. (Schmitz) and Ignatius Claude Macatee. During his childhood he attended Holy Family Catholic school and Cathedral High and served as an altar-boy. Bud graduated from La Jolla High School after his familymoved to La Jolla, California in his senior year. Afterwards, he joined the US AirForce serving as a survival instructor during the Korean War and then workedtwo years as a smoke jumper with the US Forest Service (Cave Junction, OR). Bud enrolled at the University of San Diego and after taking a break from college to sail to New Guinea in search of gold, he returned to San Diego and obtained a bachelor’s degree from San Diego State. Bud was a popular teacher (history and Latin) at La Jolla Country Day School and sponsored memorable student trips to Mexico.Bud moved to Alaska in the late 1960’s where, among other jobs, he worked in human relations for local governments, served as executive director of the Greater Anchorage Area Community Action Agency, as director of the ACTION program at Alaska Methodist University and later, under multiple Administrations, as Transportation Inspector for the Municipality of Anchorage. Bud was a longtime member of the Captain Cook Athletic Club. Bud is survived by son Michael (Anchorage), son Shaun (San Diego),daughter Laura Mercer (San Diego) and daughter Kathleen Grano (San Diego), grandchildren Michael, Robert, Cheyenne, Nikki, Donovan, Jacquelin, Lauren, and many nephews and nieces. At Bud’s request, no services will be held.