Survived by wife Agatha (nee Giorgianni) of 68 years. Loving daughter Mary (David), and sons Harold (Espi), George (Katie) and Michael. Brother Jack (Suzie), six grandchildren, three great-grandsons and several in-laws, nieces, nephews as well as an extensive group of devoted friends over every decade of his life all around the world. He was predeceased by his parents Harold and Bertha and many aunts, uncles and cousins.
Born in Manhattan and raised in Astoria, Queens, New York, he excelled in high school baseball and tried out for the Baltimore Orioles team as a pitcher.
He entered the US Army in 1953 and after marrying, he and Aggie went to Orleans, France Military Base in January 1956 where they lived until his tour was complete in summer 1957.
He cleaned planes overnight for American airlines and attended Fordham University during the day to support his growing family.
He then took on a Treat potato chip route and his family traveled to relatives’ homes sitting on boxes of product in the back of the truck, which we fondly remember.
Promoted to Vice President/Sales for Eastern Seaboard at Treat, he’d attend conferences to promote the brand.
In 1971 he started Mini Mart International, Inc. which grew into a chain of 13, twenty-four hour convenient stores in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens where he enjoyed great success.
He also was partial owner in a black-car taxi business catering to corporate accounts.
One of his favorite pastimes was enjoying his boat which he named “Enterprise” and shared memorable times with family and friends on the Great South Bay of Long Island.
In 1990, he and his wife felt called to leave Long Island, New York and move to the Orlando area to begin ministry work.
They created Love of Christ Ministries which welcomed you to worship on Fridays overnight featuring outstanding worship ministers singing praises to our Lord. His dear friends the Caleb Family and Rev. Bob Beckett were instrumental in the ministry.
He also developed Lord and Spirit Media which, at that time, duplicated millions of tapes and CDs of major Christian ministries which were mailed to partners’ homes each month. His clients included the ministries of Joyce Meyer, Benny Hinn, Jerry Falwell, Clint Brown and many other worldwide organizations.
During this time, he was instrumental in showcasing young praise and worship music ministers including David Sauger. With Rusty Goodwin, Mack produced Bobby Klein’s recording of his favorite song “Symphony.”
Mack helped create the Worship Group “Sanctuary” comprised of students and alumni of Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University.
He and Aggie also traveled domestically and internationally on several occasions to help church leadership better understand how to usher in the Holy Spirit through worship including a six-month invitation by Pastors Leslie and Julie Ramiah at their church in Durban, South Africa.
It was there his book “Bringing Jesus to Christians” was written and published.
They also delivered messages and visited with those the Lord put on their hearts in England, Austria, Italy, Israel and several other nations.
Later in life he held praise and worship at Lake Lily in Maitland very early in the morning with his dear friend Benedict Caleb helping countless men through challenging times.
He supported many other ministries and families who needed advice, financial resources and emotional strength. And they, in turn, supported and prayed for him.
Viewing will be at Revelation Church, 9913 Bear Lake Road, Apopka, Florida on Monday, January 29th, 2024 at 10:00 am with Celebration of Life Ceremony following at 12:00 noon led by Pastor Joe Manno. Military burial will be at 9:15 am at Cape Canaveral National Cemetery, Mims, Florida on Tuesday, January 30th, 2024.
This page was created especially to honor my father’s life by inviting all those whom he touched to tell their stories and share their photos. If you’d like to contribute, simply send through the contact page.
Through the generosity of the following precious individuals, we were able to have the service and burial which my father wanted. Many thanks to Jasmine Caleb, Benedict Caleb, Oscar Caleb, Arthur Caleb, Patrick, Adleen, Joseph Caleb, David, Paul Caleb, Huma/Hina, Joyce, Esther, Daniel Caleb, John Caleb.
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Tribute by David Sauger, Birmingham, Alabama
In the summer of 1994 I moved to Orlando Florida to participate in a ministerial internship under Pastor Jim Cernero at Orlando Christian Center Pastored by Benny Hinn. Harold & Agatha McCambridge volunteered to house me during that period of time.
I was a native of Binghamton New York, and when I met Mac we were kindred spirits. Mac and Aggie were a class act. They treated me like I was their own son.
They had a wonderful ministry, where they would minister to the down and outer, single mothers, widows and the like.
One of the noteworthy things about them was their love for the Lord and teaching others to learn to praise and worship the father in spirit and in truth.
Mac would spend many hours pouring into me during that period of time. We would get up before dawn and hold early morning praise & worship gatherings at different places around Orlando.
There we would learn how to “give it up” as he would say. (give up all the cares, problems, bad people in our life give it up to Jesus).
Wwe learned how to praise until worship comes, and then worship until the glory comes and then fugghetaboutit ????! He had a way of saying things like few could.
I loved Mac dearly.
Mac had a lot of street-smarts. He helped me buy my first new car.
We did not always agree on things but my respect for him never wavered.
When I met my fiancé, I brought Irene to meet them and they fell in love with her immediately, and we asked them to perform our wedding ceremony. Special time indeed.
Grateful for his friendship these past 30 years.
I was able to come and visit him in December and we spent an hour together reminiscing. He asked me to sing his favorite song Symphony of Praise – which of course I did.
He talked about the presidential election and other things. He was sharp as a tack. Still scheming for his next big thing.
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Tribute by Mandi Arnold, Durban, South Africa
Dear family, friends & those who had the privilege of knowing the one and only Mack,
When I heard the news that Mack had breathed his last breath on earth, I felt as though we’d all lost a force of nature. A man large in stature & heart.
I met Mack when I was a 23 year old naïve girl from South Africa, traveling abroad for the first time, landing in Orlando Florida for a two-week holiday and then hoping to stay and find a job and a place to stay. A little crazy when I think about it now, but lucky for me, my path collided with a couple that would become deeply embedded in my heart for the rest of my life.
I ended up living and working with Mack & Aggie for 6 months, and I’d like to think Mack & I developed a special bond.
He epitomised everything I’d heard about a typical New Yorker – but with a softness he found in his faith that seemed to knock the hard New York City edges off him.
Coming from South Africa, he was exactly like the stereotypical Brooklyn, New York characters in the movies. I loved all his wisecracks & his New York directness, but his love for Jesus and people made him quite a contradiction.
He held life lightly, didn’t take much personally, never got too emotionally sucked into anything. He just seemed to shrug his shoulders at adversity, “give it up” as he was so famous for saying and do what he could within each day.
Adversity, challenges, curved balls, and drama never had a grip on Mack. He seemed, in his latter years, to have learned the secret to finding contentment come what may.
He did whatever God & Aggie told him to do – and that seemed to hold the key to a long & beautiful life.
I went back often to live with Mack & Aggie and help them out in their business over the years, and sometimes just to visit. It was always like a reunion with my other family.
Mack & I would laugh, talk business, talk politics and somehow understand each other.
He once told me he’d sent our (incompetent) president a copy of Rudy Guiliani’s book on leadership and he was convinced we’d see a big shift in the country and thank him for it later. I nodded & chuckled, still waiting for that day but I think him & Guiliani would have been great mates ????
There’s not much left to say except that I deeply loved Mack like family for over 30 years and I know he felt the same way.
When I visited 7 years ago I had a feeling it might have been our last goodbye, but somehow when I think of all things American, I’ll always remember fondly my darling Mack.
You were ready for heaven, can’t wait to see you there.
Gone but never ever forgotten xx
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Tribute by Reid Manchester, North Carolina
I met Mack at church at a time when I was deeply depressed and without hope.
He shared his hope with me. He shared his excitement for God’s promise and gave his time and energy to help me and many others find some peace.
I know you are now at peace with the Lord, Mack.
-Reid
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Tribute by Rusty Goodwin, North Carolina
When I first met Mack, I was doing some direct mail work for him for one of his clients. In fact by the time I first met him in person I had already done a few jobs for him – up until then had only spoken to him on the phone.
You know how you build a mental picture of someone when you have only heard their voice? Well, I had certainly built a version of Mack in my mind.
That deep voice with the super thick New York accent and the colloquialisms that go along with that had painted a picture in my mind of a big, bald man with a flowered camp shirt, five gold chains, a cigar, and enough chest hair that you could sell some to hair club for men.
So, when I saw the real Mack walking toward me at the airport, I would have never guessed it was him.
Here was a man with thick grey hair, perfectly pressed Ralph Lauren dress shirt, polished loafers, and a blue blazer neatly folded over his arm.
But the thing I remember most was the smile. A smile so big it went up into his eyes and hit you like a laser.
He shook my hand and then hugged me. I helped him get his luggage and we went to my office.
In my mind, what I thought we should be talking about was the business we were doing together but, in the three days he was in town, we never talked about it. It seemed weird to me as he was my biggest client and I was serving his biggest client. But we never talked about it.
You know what we did talk about for three days?
Jesus.
Mack was a man whose singular focus was Jesus. That was the good thing about him and, if you knew him that was also the irritating thing about him – Jesus.
At first I did not know what to think of this “Jesus Freak” whose sole topic of conversation for our three day visit was Jesus.
I’m a Christ follower and had been for decades and it even unnerved me. I would tell my business partner: “You can talk to Mack for a while, I can’t take it anymore”, and then I would leave for a bit.
After his three day visit, I got to thinking about him and felt ashamed that I got tired of talking about Jesus with him. Here I am, a person who gladly confesses Christ but I got tired of talking about him.
Mack visited town often and our conversations became more and more intense about what God was doing in his life, my life and our business together and that started 31 years of friendship and ministry.
We had the opportunity to do a lot of ministry together long after our business dealings had ended. We led worship conferences all over the United States, we recorded several worship albums, we were able to train and mentor young worship leaders who are still in ministry to this day.
I went to see Mack in hospice last month and he was frail, thin, and sick. But, when I walked in the room – that smile. That smile.
And it hit me.
That smile I had seen for the first time 31 years ago wasn’t just a smile.
It was the smile of a man whose solitary focus, whose sole motivation in life, whose greatest love was Jesus.
Only Jesus could create a smile like that. Only Jesus.
That is what Mack had been trying to instill in me all these years. Be with Jesus.
For the thirty plus years I have know Mack, all he ever wanted was to be in the presence of Jesus.
And now, he literally is.
So, congratulations Mack.
You got what you have always wanted.
You are with Jesus.
Finally.
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Tribute by Apostle Leslie and Pastor Julie Ramiah, Durban, South Africa
It is with great sadness that we bid farewell to Harold McCambridge, a soldier, entrepreneur, a lifestyle minister, a wonderful friend and an extraordinary man of God.
Upon reflection of our friendship that spans almost two decades, we are overwhelmed by a surge of emotions. We are grateful to God that we had the privilege of being a part of the trajectory of his life.
Mack, as we fondly know him, was a remarkable man, a man of unconditional love, a man who was passionate about Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour of His life. However, while Mack was all of the above and more, we would like to describe him as a GENTLE GIANT in the kingdom of God.
From our first meeting with Mack and his amazing wife, Aggie some 18 years ago, we fell in love with them. Both had an incredible bond and love for each other. Through all their trials and challenges over the years, their resilience and unwavering faith kept them standing and serving God together.
On one of Mack’s visit to South Africa, he expressed his desire to publish a book. The title of his book certainly took us by surprise. It was “Bringing Jesus to Christians.”
We couldn’t make sense of it immediately. However having reflected on the content of the book, it made absolute sense then and it still holds true today.
His intention was to make Christians understand that we cannot live by the label of being a Christian; instead we needed to have an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord.
Understanding the concept of “Bringing Jesus to Christians” brings greater clarity in the light of the scripture 1 Peter 4:18 “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
To say the least, with our assistance in editing the manuscript, the book was published in Durban, South Africa. Needless to say, it touched the lives of thousands of people globally.
One of Mack’s favourite scriptures that he often quoted and prayed was Ephesians 3:16-21 “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
THIS SCRIPTURE BECAME THE HALLMARK OF HIS LIFE.
Both Mack and Aggie were dearly loved by our congregation at New Christian Bible Church, South Africa.
While Aggie brought a fresh perspective of forgiveness, Mack spoke passionately about the Love of God.
Over the years we didn’t remain friends, we became family. I must mention that every time we came to the US Mack and Aggie were incredible hosts. We remember feasting on Agatha’s Italian meatballs and being chauffeured by the incredibly patient and jovial, Mack.
Nothing was too big a sacrifice for him. He took everything gracefully in His stride. These are memories that will forever be etched in the journal of our hearts.
As we bid our final farewell, we want to say…
Mack, you have left a legacy of faith and core values by the life that you have led, setting a godly example for others to follow.
You certainly lived a life worthy of the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant…Enter into the joy of your Lord.”
Farewell Mack till we meet again.
We Love You.
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Bobby Klein created one of Mack’s favorite songs “Symphony” and we sang that to him on his last day. It is an amazing tribute to how worship songs need to be sung. Mack believed we needed to sing to Jesus, not about him. To worship Him.
Enjoy this amazing song.
We lift our hearts in a symphony
Of praise as we sing to thee
We lift our hearts and our minds
Our souls and our lives
To you in a symphony
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