LITTLE ROCK — About five years ago at Christmas, Gene McGlauflin gave his family copies of an 11-page packet of business advice he had written, from creative problem-solving to principles of investment.
“We wanted to have a part of what he was and all that great advice,” said his daughter, Margaret Feurtado.
Eugene Philip McGlauflin, a savvy business man and resident of Little Rock, died Tuesday at inpatient Hospice Home Care in Little Rock from cancer, Fe urtad o said.
He was 89.
A native of Maine, Mc-Glauflin was an athlete and once had a death-defying ski ride down a slope at Tuckerman Ravine in New Hampshire.
“He skied down the face of this cliff ... when he came off of the edge, he landed between two very large boulders,” and his skis broke, Feurtado said. “He thought he was going to die.”
Despite his frightening ride, he continued to snow ski even in his 70s, his daughter said.
McGlauflin grew accustomed to near-death experiences as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. Stationed in Italy, Mc-Glauflin flew P-51 Mustangs in combat missions over Europe.
“He was A-1, a very good pilot,” said Parke Shee, a fellow veteran. “Everybody realized when you took off, maybe today is my day [to die], maybe it isn’t, hopefully it isn’t.”
After the war, McGlauflin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and a master’s degree before working forthe former Electric Bond and Share Co. in New York City, his daughter said.
While on a consulting assignment in Shreveport, he met his future wife during a party game on New Year’s Eve, 1955.
“You had to kneel on your knees to blow the pingpong balls across the dining room table,” said his wife, Dot McGlauflin. “When we looked at each other across the table, we fell in love.”
The couple married in 1957.
A year later, McGlauflin was hired as the director of corporate services for the former Arkansas Power and Light Co. in Pine Bluff.
McGlauflin was in charge of several departments including industrial engineering, Feurtado said. In 1977, the departments were moved to Little Rock.
McGlauflin retired after 26 years with the company but never lost his zeal for business.
“He just loved keeping up with current events,” his daughter said. “He managed his own personal stock market account online.”
Well-read in everything from economics to science, McGlauflin enjoyed having discussions with his three grandsons, Feurtado said.
Friend James Thompson, who met McGlauflin through a group of retired employees from Arkansas Power and Light, said they “both enjoyed physics and quantum physics.”
“I would describe him as an intellectual,” Thompson said. “Whatever subjects you approached him with, he was ready to go.”
McGlauflin, who “walked the Christian walk every day,” was known for his smile, Feurtado said.
“He couldn’t tell a joke because he started laughing before he finished it ... he laughed to tears,” his daughter said. “The funny thing was just laughing at him laugh.”
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 10/28/2011