Realtor Don A. Beckenbaugh, ‘Mr. Laguna Niguel,’ Dies at 81

Don A. Beckenbaugh, a prominent realtor known to many as “Mr. Laguna Niguel,” died Thursday morning in Rochester, Minn., after emergency heart surgery.

Beckenbaugh, a Monarch Bay Terrace resident since 1969, was 81. He is survived by his wife, Marci.

Beckenbaugh, a former co-owner of Laguna Niguel Realty, was a member of the board of directors of Monarch Bank in Laguna Niguel, a founding member and former president of the Winners Circle, a fund-raising group for South Coast Medical Center in South Laguna, and a charter member and past president of the Rotary Club of Laguna Niguel.

From 1928 until 1962, he worked for J.I. Case Co., a farm equipment manufacturing company, where he became a vice president.

After moving to Orange County in 1969, Beckenbaugh began a real estate career that lasted more than 20 years.

In 1932, Beckenbaugh married Virginia Lloyd, whom he met in Wisconsin. They were married for 51 years. She died after an automobile accident in Dana Point in 1983. Beckenbaugh remarried in 1989.

In addition to his wife, Beckenbaugh is survived by a son, Robert, a Mayo Clinic surgeon; two daughters, Sue Duesler of Newport Beach and Judy Corbett of Marion, Ind.; three sisters, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He also had two stepsons and six step-grandchildren from his second marriage.

The funeral will be Monday at 11 a.m. at Laguna United Methodist Church in South Laguna, where Beckenbaugh had been a member for 20 years.