Donald B. Boyd, USCGR, passed away on September 27, after a 5-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Boyd was a 66-year resident of Dade, 41-year resident of Miami Lakes, and a graduate from Hialeah High Class of 1965 and Barry University in 1991.
He was a retired airfield operations supervisor with the Miami-Dade Aviation Department at Miami International and retired USCG Reserve CW04 with 4-years active duty and 30-years reserve duty.
Boyd was also an avid photographer and many of his aviation photos are well-known throughout the world. He won third, second and first place in the civil aircraft category three separate years in Aviation Week’s Annual Photo Contest and he licensed imaging rights to numerous companies for advertising and publicity purposes since retiring in 2000.
Boyd is survived by his best friend and wife of 35 years, Karen C. Boyd, his two daughters, Karen D. Kramer, and Donna E. Boyd, son-in-law Jonathan Perez, his two grandsons Kyler and Keagan Kramer, his brother-in-law Jim Criswell (Kathy), nephew David Criswell and his family, nieces Lisa Marie Criswell and Katie Beth Criswell, numerous longtime friends and his two cats Cocoa and Goldie. His first love was for his family members. Boyd is predeceased by his father John Milne Boyd and aunts Norma G. Boyd and Beatrice B. Gift.
Boyd also built a large website collection of historical photos of Hialeah and South Florida that has 28 million page views over the years and many of his restored photos have been posted by others in Facebook “oldie” groups. He leaves behind his legacy of two websites.