A Kitchener-born minister who spent 25 years preaching at a downtown church, and reached far beyond that building’s walls with televised services, has died.

Rev. Dr. Grant MacDonald died of cancer last weekend at the age of 79.

From 1975 until 1999, MacDonald was the minister at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. He presided over thousands of services, many of which were broadcast on CTV Kitchener.

For a decade prior to becoming the church’s minister, MacDonald served as an assistant minister. For part of his time at St. Andrew’s, the church was the largest Presbyterian congregation in Canada.

“I think the community’s poorer for his absence – and we are as a family, too,” said his son, Jeff MacDonald.

“When he came into a room and there was distress, the distress went away. Everybody knew with him around, it was going to be OK.”

Friends say MacDonald took the church’s role in society seriously, and continuously pushed the St. Andrew’s community to make a difference outside the walls of the building.

“Grant set that example of dreaming big and accomplishing big things,” said Rev. William G. Johnston, an assistant and associate minister who spent two stints of his career at St. Andrew’s with MacDonald.

Johnston was known to jokingly refer to St. Andrew’s as “Our Lady of Perpetual Projects” due to the volume of activity MacDonald would have on the go. He credits MacDonald with teaching him how to push himself past his self-imposed boundaries and realize his true potential.

Douglas Haas first met MacDonald in high school, where MacDonald captained the debate team. Decades later, the two would reconnect at St. Andrew’s, where Haas served as music director for 32 of MacDonald’s 35 years.

“(He) gave me the greatest support that anyone could ever want,” Haas said.

“He led the pack. He would roll up his sleeves and go out into the city and try to attend to the problems that were outside of our church.”

Haas recalled that MacDonald would regularly show up at Sunday school classes, where his flowing grey beard was of particular interest to children.

“I remember one of the kids looked up to him and said ‘Are you God?’” Haas said.

“He probably said yes.”

That sense of wonder at MacDonald’s presence felt by Sunday school attendees wasn’t lost on his own children either.

“We were awestruck by him as children. It felt like when you saw him, you were a little closer to God,” said son Jeff MacDonald, who described his father as a “visionary dreamer (and) builder” who was at his happiest when at his cottage in Haliburton.

“He had this presence where if he walked into the room, peoples’ heads turned on a swivel.”

MacDonald also spent 15 years on the school board, including a stint as chair. He is survived by his wife Halcyon, three children and four grandchildren.

With reporting by Maleeha Sheikh