Malcolm's life was as interesting as the 20th Century, which it spanned.

Malcolm was born in Monmouth Beach, NJ at "Seahurst", the summer beach house of his grandfather John McKesson, Jr. The McKesson family dates to 1731 in America and Malcolm was very proud to be the direct descendent of one of General Washington's staff; and therefore, a member of the Massachusetts chapter of the "Society of the Cincinnati."

John McKesson Jr. spent his summers at Seahurst with his family and riding to work at 91 Fulton Street with his Monmouth Beach neighbor and financier, Jay Gould. John Jr. was president of McKesson and Robbins, a family drug company that was organized in 1833. Malcolm's father, Irving McKesson, worked at McKesson and Robbins and later for the subsidiary, New York Quinine. Malcolm was born into a wealthy and prominent New York City family.

In 1923, Malcolm visited Europe accompanied by his mother, his brothers and sister, and both the French and German nannies. In Malcolm's own words:

Grand Tour of Europe (Cook's Tours) 1923 after Mary Jr. graduated from Spence. This tour was high adventure of Malcolm's life as a child. We embarked on the "Kroonland" for Cherbourg. Entrained for Paris. Did the chateaux. Visited Rome, Pisa, Florence, Naples & Vienna, as well as Lake Como in Italy. Then Holland, London, Bruges & Brussels, Scotland and home. This trip led me to study art history at Harvard.

In 1924, the family traveled by train across Canada, through Oregon [where my father Robert, Malcolm's older brother, brought our family after World War II] to San Francisco where they set sail for Hawaii. There is a photograph of the family descending by mules into Grand Canyon. In 1925 they all traveled again to Europe.

The roaring twenties also brought tough times to our family. John Jr. died in 1924 locking in high asset values for probate and forcing the sale of McKesson and Robbins. Jack, Malcolm's oldest brother, was killed in a motorcycle accident returning to Harvard after his Easter vacation in 1927.

In 1933 Malcolm graduated from Harvard and took a bicycle tour of Germany. This trip produced Malcolm's earliest drawings of the beautiful gothic churches in Germany. Malcolm worked at New York Quinine when he returned and also produced drawings of the NYQ apparatus.

In October of 1936 Malcolm's sister, Mary, died. A family struggle between the artistic Malcolm and his sensitive sister Mary on the one side and the strong willed dominating mother on the other side eventually led to Malcolm's book: Matriarchy: Freedom in Bondage in 1997.

In 1938 Malcolm joined the 7th Regiment of New York City. McKesson's have served in the 7th since the Civil War. In 1942 Malcolm became a 2nd lieutenant in the 108th Infantry Regiment, U. S. Army, and was stationed at Fort McClellan, Alabama. Captain Malcolm McKesson served with distinction in Europe with the military police. Malcolm wrote in the New York Quinine newsletter of November 30, 1945:

The Trans-Atlantic crossing was interesting but rough, eighteen days in a dirty foreign ship in a slow convoy, a near miss from a torpedo and constant tension.

Malcolm worked at New York Quinine after the war. NYQ was a McKesson and Robbins subsidiary retained by his father Irving and Uncle Donald McKesson after the sale of McKesson and Robbins. NYQ was located in Greenpoint Brooklyn, 99 N. 11th Street. NYQ manufactured alkaloids and packages of fine chemicals. Malcolm and Robert McKesson worked there until it was sold in 1949.

On May 6, 1942 Madeline Mason Manheim married Malcolm at the chapel at Fort McClellan, Alabama and spent their honeymoon in a tent in the woods.

In 1949 Malcolm and Madeline bought a 12-room house and 4 acres at the Onteora Club, Tannersville, New York in 1949. They spent their summers at Casa Benita until it was sold in 1985. Madeline developed her "Mason sonnet" while Malcolm became "a kind of a guru for all the kids who spent their summers" in this Catskill Mountain community, according to Peter van der Does, their Onteora next door neighbor. In the 1970's, Malcolm was enthralled by the 16th Century Dutch sailing ship. He spent his summers at he lake building a model of the man of war "Prince Royale" and entertaining everybody who came by. He was a mainstay of the summer theater production at Onteora. We hope to plant a tree in Malcolm's honor at Onteora next summer.

Malcolm and Madeline were married for 48 years until her death March 14, 1990 at the age of 88. Madeline produced five books of poetry. Malcolm lived at the Carlton hotel, 22 E. 29th, for 49 years. He took care of his mother there until she died at the age of 104. He painted there. He supported countless people and causes there.

I remember first getting to know Malcolm in the 1970s. I remember walking around the woods at Onteora, visiting the "writers' chair" where Mark Twain sat. I remember Casa Benita and the exquisite tea Madeline prepared for me. I took 4 leaded glass doors I found leaned against the house back to Oregon as a momento. I remember his ship, the "Prince Royale", and his passion for the knowledge of the 16th century, which it represented. I remember his stories and the spells he wove to the accompaniment of pipe he always smoked. I remember helping build the set for Plaza Suite, which was that year's annual production. I remember several trips to Rockport to visit John and Margaret Manship home and the beautiful portraits of Malcolm and Madeline John painted. I remember the walks through New York City and Malcolm's intimate knowledge and love for its 300 years of architecture.

I would like to finish by reading a note from Malcolm to his wife Madeline who had died three years earlier:

I have just run into this book while looking for some papers to add to those already in the hands of the Barker History Center at [the] University of Texas, as arranged by Margaret Cassidy Manship two years ago.

Now, three years since your departure at the Cabrini Medical Center, I can say that I call upon you daily in my Buddhist prayers and rejoice in our wonderful marriage.

Only yesterday, I had a reading from Tarot Cards by my friend Edwin Verbecke, in which he told me that you follow me with love in my declining years. I was not surprised since you taught me to love.

He also told me that the awkward marriage of my mother and father had been a benefit in bringing together mamma's haughty moralism and papa's passive kindness. He said that I should bring harmony between them, and happiness.

I close for now and I shall continue this letter.

Love Malcolm