“There would be no Bandon Dunes if it weren’t for Howard McKee"

John Gunther reports on the passing of Howard McKee, probably best known to readers of Steve Goodwin's book on Bandon Dunes.

“There would be no Bandon Dunes if it weren’t for Howard McKee,” Keiser told me in a phone interview this week.

The two met nearly two decades ago, when Howard was the land planner for the proposed 1992 World’s Fair in Chicago, home of Keiser’s Recycle Paper Greetings business.

They became fast friends, and when Howard learned Keiser was looking for property on the East Coast to build an Irish-style links golf course, he suggested Keiser also look at the West Coast.

“I had never considered Oregon,” Keiser said.

They looked at various properties, and after choosing the site near Bandon, Howard took on the entire burden of the challenging land permit process that led to approval of the site for the resort.

A GolfClubAtlas.com thread includes remarks from Tom Doak.