133:, on April 28, 1944, to Helen (née Storminger) and John McDonald. His mother was a homemaker and his father was an insurance executive. He grew up in a single parent household with his father leaving before he was born. He spent much of his early years visiting his mother who was in a hospital with tuberculosis. He attended a Catholic elementary and middle school. He would attribute his upbringing to the learnings from priests in the school. He was known to have had ambitions to becoming the President and had subscribed to
177:, was launched. During the 1990s, when there was broad consensus that welfare handouts were not creating self reliance, he spoke out for low-wage starting jobs as a means to encourage social mobility rather than just seeking handouts. The fund then provided job training, placement services, and meals for the homeless. The fund also provides transitional beds, affordable housing, and support for
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In 1988, he received a contract from the city to help renovate some of the city's unused buildings by employing people experiencing homelessness to perform basic construction and renovation. However, the fund was staring at bankruptcy when the city sold off the buildings that the group was working
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In the mid-1960s, he dropped out of college and went on to join a department store as a salesman in New Jersey, before going on to serving as an executive on clothing companies in New York's
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117:(April 28, 1944 – January 26, 2021) was an American philanthropist and social worker who was known for being the founder of homeless advocacy group
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He had two marriages that ended in divorce before he married
Harriet Karr. McDonald met Karr, a screenwriter, who had earlier written a script on
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McDonald ran an unsuccessful campaign for the mayoral position for New York City in 2013. He was on the board of
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on. It was then that he started a street worker program, initially shovelling snow from streets in the
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278:"Doe Fund founder George McDonald helped thousands of New Yorkers save their own lives"
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305:"Garment District Executive Turned Humanitarian, George McDonald Dies at 76"
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240:"George McDonald, Power Broker for the Powerless, Dies at 76"
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American social worker and philanthropist (1944–2021)
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175:Ready, Willing, & Able
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399:American philanthropists
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