CORPUS CHRISTI (Kiii News) -
Former Mayor of Corpus Christi Ben F. McDonald passed away Thursday. He was 86.
Born Oct. 28, 1925, in Austin, TX, McDonald attended college at the University of Texas, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1945. He was a lieutenant in the Navy during World War II, and served on the U.S.S. Wichita in the Pacific Theatre.
In 1948, McDonald became a Committee Clerk for the Texas legislature, where he served for a year. Following that, he received his law degree and became a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice until 1951. He practiced law until 1956.
In 1960, McDonald was elected as Mayor of Corpus Christi, and he served in that position from 1961-63. Governor Preston Smith appointed him as Executive Director of Texas Department of Community Affairs in 1972, a position he held until 1979, when he began teaching in Southwest Texas State University's Political Science Department.
Between the years of 1984-86, McDonald was Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Texas.
