Professor Jack McDonald
Appreciation
Professor Jack McDonald passed away in 2018. He taught at the Stanford Business School for fifty – that’s right, fifty – years. I used up all 100 of my elective points on his class, and so did everyone else in the class – that was the only way to get in. And to say it was worth it is such an understatement. Where else are Warren Buffett and Charles Schwab guests in the class? (And so was Steve Jobs, but that was before our time – Professor McDonald brought Jobs into the class the week before Apple’s IPO for the students to make an educated calculation as to what a fair IPO price should be).
One of my great memories is the day Professor McDonald brought in Stanford Wong as a guest speaker for our class. For those of you who don’t know who Stanford Wong is, well, he is the world’s expert on blackjack. That is not his real name, and he goes incognito so that he can enter casinos. As I had written my senior thesis in college on how people behave in casinos, I had studied everything Mr. Wong had ever written. Meeting him was for me like meeting Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle. What a gift.
I asked a few of our classmates to present their thoughts about Professor McDonald:
“Prof McDonald’s class was my favorite at the GSB. It obviously helped that investing in public markets was what I was interested all my adult life and how I made a living. His intellectual curiosity about all aspects of investing was contagious. After the GSB I remained in contact with Jack and we became friends over the years. I was honored that he chose to invest in one of my funds . It was a great pleasure to visit him when I went back to the Bay Area and get to know his remarkable wife Melody. I remember the last time I met him in 2016, while he looked frail his brain was as bright as ever and we had a passionate discussion about Emerging Markets. I miss you my friend.”
Marko Dimitrijevic, MBA ’85
“Jack McDonald was the most impactful professor I had during my two years at the GSB. Yes, the fact that I had three classes with him naturally tipped the scales in his favor (Finance, Investments and the Seminar he did every other year). But as a student who arrived knowing that I wanted a deeper understanding of the world of investing and stocks in particular, Jack provided a smorgasbord of opportunities to not only be exposed to basic investment principles but also to an array of practitioners, including Warren Buffett, Bob Kirby (his co-teacher in Investments) and John Sculley (the financially successful one!). During my twenty-five years at Goldman and the five plus years that followed at Farallon, I found that being a FOJ (Friend of Jack) was the password to a community that had a shared respect for clear-headed fundamental analysis supplemented by practical experience. And for that I will be eternally grateful.”
Bob Ceremsak, MBA ‘85
“Professor McDonald had a profound impact on my career. When I arrived at Stanford, straight from engineering undergrad, I had no prior contact with the world of finance. His passion for finance was contagious. He was an extraordinary story teller and cared deeply about his students. I remember I was very impressed when one of the students, clearly disappointed by his grade, asked a question about a concept he thought he had gotten right in the exam. Jack actually remembered the student´s answer in the test and gently explained why the answer had been wrong. I don’t think I could do that even if I had ten students, let alone ninety. I remember when he invited Warren Buffett to speak with us as well as Jim Rothenberg, the head of Capital Research, already then one of the largest global asset managers. I largely credit Professor McDonald for changing my career path in engineering to one in finance.”
Sandor Valner, MBA ‘85
“You had a hundred points total, and you had to take those hundred points and bid them over your entire class schedule. So, the clearing price for Jack’s class was in the mid-eighties. So, you had to bid eighty-five to get into Jack’s class. And then you had fifteen for the entire rest of your schedule. Jack introduced me to something, investing, which turned out to be a great fit for me. So, I guess one of the big lessons is, do things that are a good fit and that you have passion for.”
Don O’Neal, MBA ’85