ENCINITAS — Friends and family have been paying tribute to the life of popular Encinitas beekeeper James Conor McDonald, owner of the Encinitas Bee Company, who died last week.
The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed McDonald, 63, died on May 13, just days after posting a video of him surfing on Facebook. County officials said the cause of McDonald’s death may not be known for at least six months.
McDonald’s younger sibling Bryan described him as an “amazing older brother who taught me how to surf” and took to Instagram to share his shock, grief and memories.
“When I first heard the news, I was in total disbelief,” Bryan wrote on social media. “Waterman, hell man, wild man… James was a gifted natural athlete, an accomplished surfer, diver, water skier, skateboarder, horseman, snow skier, motocrosser, black belt in karate, bare-knuckle boxer (in Tijuana, no less) and all-around adventurer.”
According to his Facebook profile, McDonald was part of the 1979 class at Torrey Pines High School and a UCSD biology major. He spent 20 years training showjumpers in Ireland before dedicating his life to preserving local bees and the environment.
McDonald played a key role in persuading the City Council to support the city’s membership in Bee City, a nationwide program to conserve pollinators. The longtime beekeeper urged residents to help protect bee populations by hiring companies that perform humane, live removals of hives, arguing that unless in dangerous situations, there’s no reason to poison and kill bees.
“(McDonald) had a tremendous sense of humor and he was full of love and full of life,” said Mayor Tony Kranz, also a beekeeper who has spent time with McDonald.
McDonald also regularly spoke to schoolchildren about the importance of bees. In 2016, the Encinitas Union School District hired McDonald as a vendor to remove any reported bee colonies on the district campuses after The Coast News highlighted complaints regarding the extermination of a hive on the Flora Vista Elementary School campus.
“Colonies of bees that can’t be removed alive are like hen’s teeth. They don’t exist,” McDonald previously said.
James Wang, former chairman of the city’s Environmental Commission, once jokingly and admiringly called McDonald “a bit of a bee evangelist.”
A celebration of life service for McDonald will be held at 11 a.m. on June 2 at Calvary Chapel, 1739 S. Melrose Drive, Carlsbad. The Irish-style wake will be followed by a paddle out to Seaside Reef in Cardiff, one of McDonald’s favorite surf spots.
