Don Menaguale wanted to be known as “a quiet man.” Reserved, gentle, inquisitive and oh, so funny. The youngest child of an immigrant Italian father, Don saw the hard work his father did to raise four children after Don’s mother died when he was just nine. 

Don was a numbers whiz who received a five-year scholarship in engineering to Youngstown University in Ohio. Don worked for a few years in the California aerospace industry until he was laid off in a general cut-back. So, he handicapped thoroughbred racing for a year, living near Hollywood Park, right under the LAX flight path. After studying the racing stats for hours and selecting the next day’s picks, he would then read Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekov late into the night. He also read every book by Michael Lewis. By the end of the racing season, he “came out ahead,” but not enough for a marriage yet to his beloved Sheila.

Since childhood, he was a voracious reader. In later years, he had two rooms of treasured books, fiction and nonfiction. Don started his days with the LA Times, following Angels and Clippers daily analyses, studying for a week the baseball statistics. To watch basketball, also meant following the stats throughout each game. 

In 1972 Don was able to marry his clever and vivacious Sheila. In the same year he received a full scholarship to California Western School of Law. But after six weeks of adversarial debate, Don knew he didn’t want a life of such high tension.   He walked away from law and the scholarship. Six weeks late into the CSUSD semester, he applied to the MBS graduate program in accounting. The professors recognized his talent, and he was off and running for the next year and a half while his wife paid their way. In their free time, Don made sure they got student discounts to most of the plays at the Shakespeare Globe theater in Balboa Park and to the La Jolla Playhouse. With his CPA degree, the couple returned to OC, where Don worked for years as a tax CPA at Peat, Marwick, Mitchell, an international accounting firm. The PMM training prepared him for starting his own CPA firm in Irvine and Newport Beach for the next 35 years. 

Don was a man focused on others’ stories, having the deepest respect for his clients and close friends, no matter their wealth status or politics. He could have extended debates with his wealthiest clients, no matter how different his clients’ views. Although Don was reserved, he was politically active, once a treasurer of OC ACLU. Since his college days, he followed US Supreme Court decisions. Like his father, Don worked hard. He was always available for clients’ tax issues. He rarely missed a day of work. Occasionally a client would offer Don financial assistance.  He would never accept. 

Don made sure Sheila could finish her college pursuits. As a full-time English professor but with the summer off, they were able to share many adventures across Canada and into Mexico. Many years the couple summered in Paris and environs, enriched by the history, the culture, gorgeous parks, the food, the jazz, museums, the beautiful racetracks and French and American expats.

In the US, Don continued his passion for the thoroughbreds, including owning a tail or an ear of winning horses. Often, he was in the winner’s circle with the other ninety-nine owners. Who said thoroughbred racing is the sport of kings? Years later he even had two six-in-a-row wins at a local thoroughbred racetrack.  When he was third in place at Los Alamitos once, he won an all-expenses paid gambling weekend to compete with the best national handicappers.

Another passion of Don’s was live theater. Every season, he made sure he had South Coast Repertory season tickets to two theaters, to Monday new play series and to Saturday play discussions. Several women who worked for Don through the years spoke at his memorial of how Don mentored them beyond the office walls. When there was a break during office demands, Don would share some of his passions, coaxing them to read compelling books and he would share details about plays and foreign movies he knew they might like. All these women were encouraged to pursue higher life goals. All returned to college.  One who had no confidence is now a full-time professor in a Virginia university. Two became CPAs and three have Ph.D.’s. They credit Don with opening their worlds and increasing their confidence to achieve their dreams.

Don knew how to cherish his immigrant roots and knew his hard work could lift him out of poverty.  His legacy is the women he guided to more enriching lives. He wasn’t one to advertise himself. Don Menaguale was a quiet man with an extraordinary smile that graced all who knew him. His soul couldn’t help but shine through.