Pastor Don Mackenzie
Don Mackenzie retired in June of 2008 as minister and head of staff at University Congregational United Church of Christ in Seattle, where he had overall responsibility for the ordering and well being of the entire church staff.
A native of Chicago, Pastor Don was raised on several college campuses in the mid-west. He is a graduate of Macalester College in Saint Paul, Princeton Theological Seminary, and received his Ph.D. from New York University. He and his family moved to Seattle in 1995.
In addition to meeting his wife Judy (whom he married the day after they graduated) at Macalester, he developed four interests that continue: music, English literature, international travel and living, and theology. Don and Judy taught at Gerard Institute in Sidon, Lebanon before being evacuated during the Six Day War in June of 1967.
Pastor Don has been working collaboratively with Rabbi Ted and Sheikh Jamal on interfaith social action issues since 2001. His interest in the Middle East stems from a job as a lifeguard at the Nile Hilton Hotel in Cairo while in college. He is co-founder of the Seattle Network for Peace and Justice in the Middle East.
His country music band, Life’s Other Side, has recorded the sound track for the documentary film “Family Name” (1996) and has performed at the Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree at the Grand Ol’ Opry in Nashville (2005).
To contact Pastor Don directly, write him at PastorDonMackenzie@gmail.com.
