Ron MacBain sat for a photographer last week for a story about an upcoming art exhibit. He died Saturday, April 29, days before his 90th birthday and a week before the opening of the show of his work.
Ron MacBain, longtime Tucsonan and one-time owner of The Plantsman floral shop, died Saturday, April 29. He would have turned 90 May 4.
MacBain, who was the subject of a story in the Star on Sunday, had a stroke at his Handmaker assisted living apartment, said his long-time friend Elaine Kuntz.
A planned exhibit of MacBain’s paintings will continue, said James Goodreau of Galería Senita.
MacBain moved to Tucson in 1949. He worked for a wholesale paper company and tired of it after 20-some years, he said in a recent interview. He then opened The Plantsman, which quickly became the go-to floral shop in Tucson. He sold it in 1999, after 25 years. MacBain then poured his passion into the garden of his Winterhaven home, which he shared with his longtime partner Gustavo Carrasco, who died in 2011. That garden became a destination spot for photographers, painters and garden lovers.
When he could no longer garden, he picked up painting. “I think I’m in the flower shop and arrange on canvas the way I would in a vase,” he said. Painting brought unexpected pleasures. “The joy I’m getting fills me so much,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”
He moved to Handmaker last year, after two heart attacks, a bad back and colon cancer convinced him he could no longer live alone.
MacBain did not want services, but the opening reception of the exhibit will serve as a celebration of his life. It will be 5-7 p.m. May 6 at Galería Senita at Arte de la Vida, 37 N. Tucson Blvd.
He is survived by his nieces Mary Koehn of Bayfield, Colorado, and Wendy MacBain, of Gilbert, Calif., and a large, extended family in Tucson and around the country.
MacBain would appreciate donations to the Benedictine Convent, said Kuntz. And, she added, “he wants people to take a friend to lunch, have a glass of Chardonnay and shop at the Dollar Store.”
