KENNETH McKENZIE,

FORT WORTH -- Kenneth Douglas McKenzie Jr. passed away at his home during his 90th year early Wednesday morning, July 24, 2013, following a short illness. Memorial service: 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth, 1000 Penn St., with a reception to follow at River Crest Country Club. Mr. McKenzie will be laid to rest privately in the Hood Family Cemetery in Parker County. Visitation: Family and friends will gather 5 to 7 p.m. Friday in the Great Room at Robertson Mueller Harper. Memorials: In lieu of flowers, consideration of contributions to the Memorial Fund at First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth, in his memory, is suggested. Born in Galveston on Nov. 29, 1922, Doug was the son of Kenneth Douglas McKenzie and Courtenay Chatham McKenzie. As a young boy, he moved to Fort Worth, near where his great-grandfather A.J. Hood had settled in Parker County in the middle 1800s. Doug graduated from Arlington Heights High School and lived his entire life in Fort Worth, except for attending Texas A&M University and the University of Missouri, serving in World War II for 3 1/2 years and working for the Prudential Insurance Co. in Kansas City and Lubbock. In World War II, he served in the headquarters of the Seventh Army in North Africa, Sicily and France. He received a Bronze Star and attended The Sorbonne after the war. He considered his service in World War II and the U.S. Army a defining point in his life. In 1948, he returned to Fort Worth and married Phyllis Nichols. Together, they raised two boys, Doug and Bill. In 1952 he joined The Brants Co., a Fort Worth insurance and real estate company. In 1973, he married Ninya Hyde Strode, with whom he raised three daughters, Baird, Meredith and Marlow Strode. They enjoyed a long marriage, celebrating their 40th anniversary June 15, 2013. Doug and Ninya enjoyed traveling together, including family trips to New York, a wide circle of friends and times together on their back patio. Doug loved the world of business, the company of his friends, the community in which he long lived and the family he raised and led. Jimmy Stewart famously said in his role as George Bailey that a man is wealthy if he has many friends. By that definition, Doug McKenzie was a very wealthy man. He enjoyed the camraderie of his friends, many of whom he had known since childhood. He also enjoyed playing golf Saturdays, attending TCU and Dallas Cowboy football games and participating in Opening Day dove hunts. McKenzie worked for 50 years with The Brants Co., where he served as chairman and partner until his retirement at age 80. He was elected president of the board of the Fort Worth Children's Hospital, the Fort Worth Board of Realtors and the West Side YMCA and he sat on the boards of the Fort Worth Zoo, Lena Pope Home, First City Bank and River Crest Country Club. Along with being a River Crest member, he belonged to The Steeplechase Club, the Fort Worth Club and the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity. He also was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth, where he was confirmed as a young boy in the 1930s. The family wishes to thank Dr. Alan Davenport and the devoted caregivers of Assisted Services Inc. and Community Hospice of Texas, for the care and kindness Doug received. He was preceded in death by his parents and stepdaughter, Marlow Strode Rodriguez. Survivors: In addition to his wife, Ninya McKenzie, Doug is survived by his sons, Kenneth Douglas McKenzie III of Houston and his wife, Deborah McKenzie, and William Philip McKenzie and his wife, Jennifer Nagorka, of Dallas; stepdaughters, Baird Strode Reed and her husband, Jay Reed, and Meredith Strode Merlo and her husband, Nestor Merlo, of Dallas; stepson-in-law, Damian Rodriguez; grandchildren, John McKenzie, Caroline Berg, Anne McKenzie, Douglas McKenzie, McKenzie Hicks, William Hicks and Evelyn Rodriguez; sister, Courtenay Pfiffener and her husband, Robert Pfiffener, of Chippewa Falls, Wis.; and two nieces and a nephew and their families. Robertson Mueller Harper Funerals & Cremations 1500 Eighth Ave., 817-924-4233 To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of KENNETH McKENZIE, please visit our Sympathy Store.