George Stevens McKenzie, 75, formerly of Malibu and Hesperia, died Oct. 8 at the home of a friend in Tehachapi where he spent his final days in hospice care. The cause of death was cancer of the bladder.
In one of his last active outings, McKenzie enjoyed a wheelchair tour of downtown Tehachapi on Oct. 2 where he chatted with people he met along the way and stopped to munch happily on a tuna melt at Primo’s.
McKenzie was born Dec. 26, 1933 in Coventry, England, and experienced the German bombing of that city. His mother was Honorah Cathrol McKenzie of Ireland. He was one of five children. His father, career British soldier John Henry McKenzie of South Africa, had served with distinction in World War I and in civil defense at Coventry during World War II. Following his father’s military tradition, George McKenzie joined the Gordon Highlanders British Army regiment and was posted to Kenya and South Africa.
He immigrated to Rochester, Minn., joining the United States Marine Corps in Minneapolis in 1958. He was honor man of his training platoon in San Diego and worked as an IBM data specialist at Camp Pendleton.
In civilian life, McKenzie lived at June Mountain, where he managed the Heidelberg Inn, and later lived in Santa Monica and Malibu, principally Paradise Cove, working as a bookkeeper for a major law firm and other clients.
McKenzie volunteered with the Special Olympics and, as a member of the Malibu Kiwanis Club, worked on the Malibu Chili Cook-Off. A supporter of the arts, McKenzie served as president of the Malibu Ballet and Performing Arts Society.
He distributed a British cycling magazine, Pro News, which was published by his brother John McKenzie.
McKenzie is mourned by the family he adopted as his own: Tina Forde of Tehachapi and her children, Laurel Bluhm, Laurel’s husband Derin and their children Alec, Sara and Carson of Issaquah, Wash., Chris and Nicky Goldblatt of Santa Barbara and Kelsey Forde of West Hollywood; and his friends Diana Fernandez of Hesperia and Frank Catalano of Hesperia.
McKenzie will be buried at the new Bakersfield National Cemetery with military honors at 10 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 15.