Mccaw Clan: Personal Lives

The brothers of Craig McCaw would rather you didn't read this story.

They want Craig to get the attention. They don't think their personal lives are anybody's business. But when you've each got more than $300 million, things do get interesting.

Meet the McCaws.

Bruce McCaw.

The eldest of the four McCaw brothers, Bruce, 46, is the only McCaw who went into business by himself. The other brothers worked for Craig. Bruce co-founded Westar Insurance Co. in Bellevue, which specialized in aviation and other insurance areas and, after a merger, became Forbes Westar Inc. (He also helped found Horizon Airlines. )

All of the brothers are major stockholders in McCaw Cellular Communications and, except for Keith McCaw, serve as directors of the company. Craig, however, is without question the person in charge. Bruce says he has no problem deferring to his younger brother as leader of the company. Craig, however, does get advice from the brothers. "He's never run the business as if he's the only guy in the saddle," Bruce says.

Bruce is private like the rest of the McCaws, but the most talkative. He particularly enjoys talking about his late father, industrialist Elroy McCaw. Bearded, balding and a little overweight, he looks a bit like the GOP strategist Ed Rollins.

Bruce could afford practically any car ever made. But he prefers to drive the 1986 Mercedes 300E he drove in the One Lap of America race across the continent several years ago. He also has a collection of vintage race cars.

A skilled pilot, Bruce flies his own 6-passenger jet. . Or he might fly a smaller plane to a dirt runway near his rustic riverfront cabin, once owned by supermarket tycoon Joe Albertson, in Idaho's Frank Church Wilderness Area. The cabin has no running water and is reachable only by water or air.

A big-game hunter and a thrill-seeker, Bruce and his friends have hunted by moonlight for boar in South Africa, armed only with pistols.

In Seattle, Bruce keeps a home and a 58-foot yacht. He is the only brother who has never married, but he has been seen escorting women at various charitable events in Seattle. He is very sensitive about his name appearing in newspapers and regards it as irresponsible that a newspaper would suggest a romantic link with a guest just because they appeared together.

He says the family as a whole feels abused by the news media's attention.

"One of the reasons why all of us spend less time in the city is because we got run out," he says. "When you want some privacy in your life, the easy way is to go someplace else, where people aren't focused on you."

John McCaw.

Apart from Craig, John, 42, is the only brother who has held a senior full-time position in the company. He started with the company in 1975, working at the family's small cable-TV system in Centralia. He eventually held the title of executive vice president of acquisitions. His contributions were largely in the cable division, which was sold in 1987.

His mother, Marion, says he is probably the warmest of the four boys. In appearance, he looks more like Craig than the other two. He's thin and delicate-looking. When asked a question, he will stare for a long time before answering. When nervous, his eyes dart rapidly back and forth, a mannerism shared by Craig.

John ended full-time work for the company in 1991 but remains a director. He quit "to get away for a while and get a perspective on things," he says.

"John came to a point in his life where there were other things of importance to him," says Craig, "and we simply agreed that if he wasn't going to put his heart and soul in the company, then that wasn't the deal, the philosophy of management, and so nobody had to be thrown out per se."

Since leaving the company, John has had more time to pursue other interests: yachting, skiing - and baseball. The former Little League pitcher is part of the Nintendo-led group that owns the Seattle Mariners.

As a youth, John drove a Porsche. He's kept an interest in exotic forms of transportation. He owns a helicopter and is said to be an excellent pilot.

He also owns a 10-passenger, long-distance jet. Last year he sold his 48-foot powerboat. He owns a radio station, KSKI, in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Keith McCaw.

Of the very private McCaws, Keith is the most private. At the Lakeside School, to which Keith drove a Mustang, some called him The Invisible Man.

"He's probably the hardest of the four of us to pry anything out of," says Bruce.

Still, he makes a vivid impression. He has dark straight hair and a pudgy face. He wears a gold watch, and carries a pager and a cellular phone.

Keith, 40, offers little about himself during an interview. A question gets a fragmentary answer, with nothing volunteered.

Keith McCaw made headlines when it was revealed last year he had spent $8.15 million to buy three Lake Washington lots for a new home. Plans are to remove three large homes that occupied those lots and build one home of 12,000 to 15,000 square feet, a few doors from brother John's home.

Apart from his Seattle residence, Keith, married with two children, keeps a large home in Sun Valley, formerly owned by Bill Harrah, the casino owner.

To get between Seattle and Sun Valley, Keith, the only brother who doesn't fly himself, keeps a 10-passenger jet.

Keith says he had a number of management jobs in the McCaw company, particularly in the paging business, where he negotiated acquisitions. Most executives at the company say he has never been a major player. Keith formally ended his role as an employee in 1986 but continued as a director until 1991. He remains a major stockholder.

Why did he leave the company?

"I think overall the brothers have innate independence," says Keith. "My feeling in the company was I had gone as far as I could. Craig has always been CEO for all intent and purposes, and rightly so. He deserves his position. But you can only work for your brother so long."

"Keith did a lot of things for the company and did them well," says Bruce, "but being the youngest of the four of us is a difficult role at best. Keith survived that experience well."