Richard Timothy McNamar

April 21, 1939 – July 16, 2021

Richard Timothy McNamar was born on April 21, 1939, and died at the age of 82 in Scottsdale, Arizona, on July 16. He is survived by his son Brendan Lyons McNamar of Chandler, Arizona, and daughter, Lindsay McNamar Walsh of San Francisco, California, as well as former wives, Mary Ann McNamar of Bethesda, Maryland, Karen McNamar of Los Angeles, California, and Brenda Shrader of Scottsdale, Arizona.

R.T. McNamar, known as Tim to family, friends and all of the many people he encountered in his interesting life, grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and spent childhood summers on a family farm in St. Charles, Illinois, as part of a large Catholic family with Irish roots. He attended Cascia Hall and then Villanova for college. His passion for running started early, and he ran track for both his high school and college teams but ultimately fell in love with distance running and completed dozens of marathons later in life.

Tim graduated from both the University of Michigan Law School and Dartmouth’s Amos Tuck School of Business Administration. He loved to work and dedicated extraordinary energy to his various business endeavors. His first meaningful job spanned six years at McKinsey & Co in an era when “the best and brightest” were handpicked to work at McKinsey. This close-knit network was valued by Tim throughout his life.

At his core, Tim was a lifelong old-fashioned Republican who believed in kindness, courtesy and bipartisan collaboration. He had a deep sense of patriotism and an entrepreneurial streak. His career swung between the public and private sectors. He served in two presidential administrations, under Richard Nixon as executive director of the Federal Trade Commission and under Ronald Reagan as the youngest ever deputy secretary of the Treasury. After leaving government in 1985, he worked with various startups in the financial, real estate and telecom sectors.

His favorite event of the year was the World Economic Forum in Davos, which he attended from very early on and was proud to be part of its advisory committee. He loved to learn about and discuss big ideas. He couldn’t stand parties and dinners where people discussed vacations, schools and real estate.

Tim was incredibly well versed in the news of the day until his final passing, devouring the Economist magazine weekly and four newspapers daily: The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post and often sent in op-eds to various outlets, which were published on occasion.

Tim savored his many years of cross country running with his “running gang” from Pacific Palisades and loved skiing with his family and friends. He was, in many ways, a larger than life character who captivated any room he entered. He always had grand plans to make the world a better place and never was there a dull moment with Tim in one’s midst. He will be missed.

A funeral mass will be held at 3 p.m. on Friday, December 17, at Corpus Christi Church in Pacific Palisades. All are welcome.