SARASOTA ﾗ Friends and family remember Donald McGetrick as an adventurer who left his parents in New England at 16 and moved by himself to Florida.
He earned a degree in business administration from the University of Miami at 19 and got a job as a railroad engineer. He passed the Bar exam in his 20s and practiced law in Sarasota for two decades.
McGetrick, 47, died Sunday in an accident in the Bahamas, where he was looking at real estate with friends.
“Heaven just got a lot louder,ﾒ said his wife, Tracy. “Don wasnﾴt afraid to talk with anybody, and he was a fabulous storyteller.ﾒ
Donald McGetrick moved from Sarasota to Miami three years ago, and had traveled to Cat Island on Friday with a friend to look at property near Greenwood Beach Resort.
At about 11 a.m. Sunday, the resort ownerﾴs son asked the two men to help raise the sail on a Hobie catamaran, according to Bahamas police officials.
According to authorities in the Bahamas, McGetrick and two other men were trying to hoist the sail when the mast of the catamaran hit an overhead power line on Cat Island, 120 miles southeast of Nassau.
Itﾴs just weird,ﾒ said Michael McGetrick, his brother.
The surge of power knocked out Donald McGetrick and the other two men on the catamaran, his brother said.
When they came to, they were all really hurt,ﾒ McGetrick said. ﾓMy brother was alive for a while, but he died before he made it to the clinic.ﾒ
The two other men were taken to a Nassau hospital, officials said.
The incident is still under investigation, but there were no signs of foul play, said Royal Bahamas Police spokesman Hulan Hanna.
Donald McGetrickﾴs friend from Miami, Eddie Rodrigues, was recovering at Baptist Hospital in Miami on Wednesday, where he was listed in good condition, hospital officials said.
The condition of the resort ownerﾴs son was unavailable.
Relatives described McGetrick as a free spirit who loved to spending time with friends and in Floridaﾴs warm waters.
