Michael Ryan McDonald, Jr.

Michael “Ryan” McDonald, Jr. passed away unexpectedly on November 6th, 2022, in Djibouti, Africa.

Ryan, the first child of Michael McDonald and Valerie Spindel McDonald, was born on September 9th, 1980 in Frankfurt, Germany. Being in a military family, Ryan moved around quite a bit as a child, but spent most of his childhood and teenage years in Cochise County, AZ and graduated from Tombstone High School in 1999.

Ryan joined the US Marines following high school and retired in 2019. He completed multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, both as a Marine and contractor. His loyalty to his fellow Marines, colleagues, and the mission was unwavering. Many of those Ryan served with have reached out and expressed how dedicated he was to accomplishing the mission, both while deployed and at home station, and credited his unique sense of humor with lightening the mood during difficult times.

Ryan and his wife Sandra were married in 2006. Ryan was an outstanding and fun loving father to their three children, of whom he was very proud. Ryan was known by everyone that he met, as being absolutely hilarious and a natural storyteller. His unique combination of low and high brow humor often culminated in hysterical stories, some of which took a keen sense of skepticism to know when he was pulling your leg, just to get a laugh. Ryan had a confidence about him, which made him so easy to be around. In times of need, he was a great source for sound advice and strength for anyone that asked. Ryan was a remarkable Marine, son, brother, husband, father and friend, who will be dearly missed by all.

Ryan is survived by his wife Sandra Dominguez, his sons, Liam McDonald, Chris McDonald, and Caleb McDonald, his father Michael McDonald, his mother Valerie Spindel McDonald, his brother Joseph McDonald, his sister Molly McDonald, his maternal grandmother Elizabeth Ross, and grandfather Charles Spindel, his paternal grandmother Merallyn McDonald, and his many aunts, uncles and cousins, all of whom loved him very much.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Michael Ryan McDonald, Jr., please visit our floral store.