Georgetown, SC

Robert Monroe McAlister, 91, passed away peacefully on Friday, February 13, 2026, in Georgetown, SC.

He is survived by his sons, Robert Edmund McAlister and James Andrew McAlister (Leigh), of Sullivans Island, SC; a granddaughter (Alexandra), and five grandsons (James, Graham, Edmund, Robert, and Simon).

Mac is preceded in death by his wife, Mary Shower and youngest son, Charles Monroe McAlister.

Known to all as "Mac", he was born in Charlotte, NC on June 2, 1934, the only son of Jesse Monroe McAlister and Francis Peel McAlister of Waynesboro, Miss. The family moved from Charlotte to Louisville, KY; Miami, FL; Columbia, SC; and eventually Atlanta, GA. While living in Columbia, Mac attended Dreher High School, playing center on the football team and winning the state championship in his Senior year in 1952. Mac went on to attend Georgia Tech and earned his Mechanical Engineering degree in 1956. He enlisted in the US Navy, attended OCS in Rhode Island, then spent three years building what is now MCAS Beaufort, SC. Upon discharge in 1960, he worked as an engineer for International Paper Co. in Georgetown, SC, where he met, and fell immediately in love with his future wife, Mary Shower, at her family's beach house on Pawleys Island. Their three sons were born as the family moved between Boston, MA, Columbia, SC, and Athens, Greece while Mac pursued a career in construction management. After returning from Greece, he started a successful construction management company of his own in Charleston, SC, which he managed for over a decade.

Mac and Mary shared a deep passion for adventure on the open ocean, primarily aboard sailboats, which they pursued for most of their 57-year marriage. A family trip aboard an old wooden ketch restored by Mac to the Out Islands of the Bahamas in 1976 would establish a lifelong pattern of planning and executing increasingly more adventurous expeditions on the sea aboard various vessels. Their maritime travels extended the East Coast north to south, the entire Caribbean to Venezuela, as well as two transatlantic crossings and the exploration of the coasts of England, the Scilly Isles, Ireland, Spain, and France via the inland canals to the Mediterranean Sea. Along the way they made many lifetime friends and compiled multiple logbooks and journals which Mac eventually turned into his first published book "Cruising Through Life".

In the late 1990s, he and Mary returned to live at Belle Isle near Georgetown, one of Mac's early development projects in which he took great pride. They dedicated themselves to the early establishment of what is now the South Carolina Maritime Museum (SCMM), which embodies their efforts today with a solid membership and thriving youth sailing program.

After Mary passed in 2018, Mac found companionship in Jane Wishart with whom he shared an interest in travel, good humor, and many common friends around Belle Isle and Georgetown. A forward thinker, an early riser, and a focused planner, those who knew Mac were charmed by his mischievous smile, deep blue eyes, and a clever sense of humor that he wielded generously to the end.

Memorial gifts may be made in his name to the South Carolina Maritime Museum online at

https://harborhistoricalassociation.app.neoncrm.com/campaigns/robert-mac-mcalister-memorial

South Carolina Maritime Museum

729 Front Street

Georgetown, SC 29440

Family, friends, and members of our community are invited to join us as we gather to celebrate the life of Robert "Mac" McAlister. Mac was a longtime board membert, sailor, and champion of our museum, helping establish programs that continue to shape young sailors and preserve our martime heritage. Please join us to share stories, memories, and gratitude for a life that meant so much to this place and to so many people.

Saturday, March 28, 2026

2:00 - 4:00 PM

South Carolina Maritime Museum

729 Front Street

Georgetown, SC 29440

Mayer-Ethridge Funeral Home

Maryville Chapel

843-546-4184