It is with great pride that the El Cajon Rotary Club announces that one of its own members, Tim McDougal has been selected as the El Cajon Citizen of the Year for 2025.
Tim is a natural leader with a long-standing history in his hometown of El Cajon and with the El Cajon Rotary Club.
Born and raised in El Cajon, Tim attended Madison Elementary School and was in the first class at Montgomery Middle School. He completed high school at Granite Hills and spent two years at Grossmont Community College before transferring to and graduating from the University of Utah as a double major in Business Finance and Business Management. Shortly after graduation, McDougal returned to San Diego and entered the banking industry. In 1985, he began working with his mentor Bud Smith at Grossmont Bank. Smith encouraged Tim to get involved in the community, not to generate leads and build clients, but because it was the right thing to do.
The McDougal family has a long history of philanthropy in East County. Lynn McDougal, Tim’s late father, was a city attorney, children's advocate, Rotarian and El Cajon Citizen of the Year 52 years ago. Tim continues this legacy, serving as a Rotarian in the El Cajon Rotary Club since 1988, currently serving as the club’s treasurer. He is a past president and has served in all offices over 37 years. He is also the treasurer and chairman of the El Cajon Rotary Foundation, holding this position for four years. The club has raised and donated over $600,000 to local community groups.
Tim has long advocated that service groups and non-profits form partnerships to work together for the betterment of El Cajon citizens. For at least the last 10 years, Tim has sponsored the Rotary Club of El Cajon’s grant to provide transportation scholarships for El Cajon students from local public schools to the Boys’ and Girl’s Club’s El Cajon Clubhouse. In 2019, he started soliciting grants from the East County Posse to the BGCEC to underwrite East County Transitional Living Center children’s membership, transportation and summer camp at the El Cajon Clubhouse.
Tim’s “Service Above Self” is self-evident in all that he does, which is why the El Cajon Rotary Club, the Boys and Girls Club of East County and the East County Possee all nominated him for this honor.
Tim will be honored as part of the Mayor Bill Well’s State of the City presentation on February 18 at 6:00PM at the Ronald Reagan Center.