Pinehurst, NC – Marty McKenzie, who was Pinehurst, N.C.’s biggest booster and one of the village’s most famous native sons, passed away peacefully at his home on Jan. 17, 2026.
Mr. McKenzie was born in 1945, the son of Pinehurst residents William “Mac” McKenzie and Maggie Belle Farmer McKenzie, in a house located just steps from the five-eighth-mile training track and the Pinehurst #1 golf course. So, it’s no surprise his two biggest interests throughout his life were trotters and tee times.
He attended Pinehurst High School and later graduated from the University of North Carolina.
His love of horses became a passion through his friendship with Gary Cameron, son of Hall of Fame trainer Del Cameron, who wintered annually at the Pinehurst Training Center. One summer while still in school, McKenzie joined the Cameron’s on the Grand Circuit and saw his first actual race at Brandywine Raceway, and he immediately became enamored with the business.
After graduating UNC, Mr. McKenzie returned to Pinehurst and was employed by the Carolina Hotel, where his daily conversations with successful businessmen taught him lessons textbooks never could. And when the Diamondhead Corporation acquired the Pinehurst resort in 1970, he was hired and became their top sales representative.
Mr. McKenzie eventually went out on his own and started the Olmstead Village Company, which specializes in commercial development and property management, and grew the business into one of the largest and most successful of its kind in the Pinehurst/Sandhills/Southern Pines triad.
In ensuing years, Mr. McKenzie was responsible for helping to grow the thriving economy in that area and became a vocal ambassador for the entire community.
As a developer, Mr. McKenzie is responsible for building and managing major developments in Southern Pines that include the Olmsted Village retail center, Biltmore Place office park, and Wee Pines miniature golf courses. And in the heart of old Pinehurst, his firm completely restored the historic Theater building and Department Store building, that his company also manages.
As a promoter, Mr. McKenzie was always finding ways to preserve and enhance the traditional side of the Pinehurst Village community and worked hard to get elected officials on the same page with him in order to get those projects done.
In recent years, Mr. McKenzie had been working very hard to get National Historic Landmark status assigned to the mile track, which was not included when the Pinehurst Training Center received its historic protection status in 1996. His fear was the mile track, which is the largest public green space left in Pinehurst, could be lost to development as property values continue to rise.
In an effort to raise awareness for this project and grow a new following for the sport he loved, Mr. McKenzie invited Pinehurst citizens who were never involved in the sport to own fractional shares of Standardbred race horses.
Mr. McKenzie named his syndicate the Pinehurst Racing Partners and they have become a very passionate group. They meet every Saturday to watch the horses they own train, and through that participation have all come to understand how important harness racing is to their community.
Right now, there are 45 individual participants, all from Pinehurst, involved in ownership. And with spouses and friends, total about 80 people actively involved in the group. They plan to sit down with Pinehurst town managers to discuss the steps needed to move forward with getting the mile track added as a National Historic Landmark and protect it for all time.
Pinehurst draws in excess of 1.2 million golfers a year from all over the world, and they play right next door to the harness tracks. And it was Mr. McKenzie’s belief that those golfers, many with the means for this type of investment, were a captive audience that could become active harness horse owners that could help solidify the future of the sport.
Mr. McKenzie was the number one cheerleader of Pinehurst from the beginning to the end, and the efforts he put forth throughout his life were focused solely on making his town better today than it was yesterday, while protecting its historical integrity.
Mr. McKenzie said “To me, there are only three things in this town that make Pinehurst what it is. The Pinehurst #2 golf course, the village of Pinehurst itself and the harness tracks. If you take any one of those away, you just have rural North Carolina.”
Perhaps today, Pinehurst is a little less itself with the passing of Marty McKenzie.
Mr. McKenzie is survived by his wife, Susan Boston McKenzie; son, Ashley James McKenzie; and daughter, Susan Melinda McKenzie (Willam Warren Wrenn III); granddaughter, Ashley Ryann Council; many nieces and nephews and his beloved dog, Bullette.
A memorial service honoring Mr. McKenzie is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 1, at 3 p.m. at The Fair Barn, 200 Beulah Hill Road South, Pinehurst, on the grounds of the harness racing track he loved. A Celebration of Life will follow at 5 p.m.
Please post condolences and memories of Mr. McKenzie at www.bolesfuneralhome.com, who will be organizing the services.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating funds to Pinehurst Racing Partners LLC, the harness horse ownership syndicate Mr. McKenzie founded to expand interest in the sport of harness racing and preserve the Mile Track off of Highway 5 at the Pinehurst Training Center, where he was a lifelong fixture. Donations can be mailed to: Nicole Dunstan, 285 Olmsted Blvd., Suite 7, Pinehurst, NC 28374. (Please use tax deductible number Pinehurst PPF A 501C(3) CO.) Or call Nicole Dunstan, cell, 910-922-3041.