Many people, including Doug McConnell himself, would say he led a charmed life. And he did, but it came to a close in January 2026 after nearly four years of effort to recover from a debilitating stroke in April 2022. Doug spent the better part of his 80 years doing exactly what he most loved to do: explore the world around him, sharing his boundless enthusiasm for its wonders and its people with a large and adoring audience. As Kathy Taft, his wife of 46 years, told me, “He really enjoyed his life.”
Doug was best known as the host of a series of decidedly upbeat and informative TV programs that took viewers to interesting places around the San Francisco Bay Area, the state, and the West, starting with Mac and Mutley in the 1980s, continuing with Bay Area Backroads for 15 years in the 1990s and 2000s, and culminating with Open Road with Doug McConnell from 2015 to 2023. Along the way, he inspired generations of Bay Area residents to get outside and explore the natural wonders of the Bay Area and the West, while introducing legions of viewers to the organizations and agencies that manage and safeguard these special places.
With his rugged good looks, trim physique, golden-blond hair, ease with words, and relentless “gee-whiz” positivity, Doug was the very type specimen of a TV host. According to his fellow TV production crew members, he was the same person off-camera as on-camera: unfailingly generous, genuine, curious, caring, and perpetually enthusiastic. His generosity extended to the many nonprofit organizations for whom he served as volunteer master of ceremonies at galas and fundraising events. (In 2011, Doug was the MC at Bay Nature’s 10th anniversary celebration. Later, Bay Nature recognized his contributions to spreading the gospel of Bay Area open space with a special Bay Nature Local Hero award in 2021.)
In 2015, Doug invited me to film a segment about Bay Nature for the first season of Open Road. I suggested we do the shoot on the jetty and rocky outcrop at Cavallo Point in Fort Baker, with its spectacular views of San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate, and the city, as well as frequent sightings of harbor porpoises, harbor seals, and sea lions. Doug agreed, and we met there on a sunny, late winter morning. Accompanied by his two-man production crew, Doug was his usual gracious, effusive, and eloquent self, putting me at ease, singing the praises of Bay Nature, and feeding me gentle questions that allowed me to explain what makes that place on the edge of the Bay so special.
A winding path
Doug’s path to his fabled TV hosting career wasn’t exactly a straight line. He was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1945, the youngest of three sons, but grew up in the small Central Valley town of Gridley after his father, a former airplane mechanic, bought a used car dealership there. As a young boy, his appetite for outdoor adventure was awakened by the family’s occasional trips to Yosemite and beyond in the family camper van…