• Donald Lee Rust of Orchard Park went home to his Lord and Savior on June 7, 2026, while surrounded by his wife and daughters. He was 93.
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• Born in Adrian, Minnesota on November 13, 1932, Don was the son of the late Arthur and Grayce Rust. In 1957, Don married Arliss Madson, to whom he was married for nearly 69 years. The couple moved from Minnesota to Michigan before eventually settling in Orchard Park, but as they moved from home to home, one constant remained: Don’s singular adoration of Arliss. He expressed his love in a multitude of meaningful ways: providing rave reviews of her culinary talents, planning and executing immaculate house projects, thoughtfully selecting gifts, completing puzzles together during long winters, and sharing countless surprise cups of coffee on the front porch of their final home in the village. Together, Don and Arliss raised their three devoted daughters – Stephanie, Lisa, and Kristie – and Don loved nothing more than bragging about the strength of character, intelligence, and accomplishments of the Rust women.
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• Don’s vocational journey and nearly 39-year career with General Motors epitomized the American Dream and left an indelible impact on both his own family and those he led. After growing up and working on his family farm in Minnesota, Don served in the Korean War as a member of the Army from 1953 to 1955. In the fall of 1957, he started work as a junior quality control engineer at Flint Manufacturing, while pursuing his B.S. in Industrial Engineering as a GM Institute Cooperative Engineering student. After completing his degree in 1961, Don quickly advanced within the company, receiving promotion after promotion for his strategic mind, incomparable work ethic, and outstanding leadership skills.
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• In 1977, Don and his family relocated to Western New York after he was promoted, first to General Superintendent of Production at the Chevrolet Saginaw Parts Plant in Tonawanda, and then to Manager of the Chevrolet-Tonawanda Forge Plant. There, in just three years, he transformed a plant experiencing mass layoffs into a high-volume production plant pioneering innovative high-speed forging technology. General Motors repeatedly entrusted Don with operational challenges during the rapid expansion of the auto industry in the 1960s and the emerging threats to American manufacturing in the 1970s. Don, and the workers he led, consistently prevailed.
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• In 1983, Don faced his greatest vocational challenge when he was promoted to Manager of the Tonawanda Motor Plant. When he started in his new role, Chevrolet was strongly considering shutting down the plant entirely, a move that would have devastated the local economy. True to form, Don told his superiors to give him a year, rolled up his sleeves, and got to work. His first order of business was mediating long-standing tensions between management and plant workers to craft an elusive labor agreement. Don’s leadership style was accessible and collaborative, focused first and foremost on maximizing employee capacity by ensuring their well-being, sense of fulfillment, and trust. He secured GM’s investment in multiple new engine lines to shore up the future of the Tonawanda plant and successfully piloted an “every worker a salesman” program, which increased car sales and cultivated plant workers’ sense of inherent value and ownership within the larger company. With Don’s guidance and active involvement, the plant also successfully broke the world record for the most engines produced by one plant in a single day, which provided a boost to worker morale and a point of pride for all involved. By the time of Don’s retirement in 1996, the Tonawanda plant was the world’s largest engine manufacturer, and the number of company employees had doubled since he took the helm. Perhaps most impressively, during immensely volatile years in American car manufacturing that were rife with mass layoffs, no Tonawanda plant workers were laid off during Don’s tenure.
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• For all of these efforts, Don was honored with numerous awards and honors, including Buffalo Citizen of the Year in 1993. Humble until the end, Don never bragged about his accomplishments but rather focused on continuing to invest his time and talents in Western New York. He actively served his community, including as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, General Campaign Chair for the 1993 United Way of Buffalo and Erie County, a member of the Tonawanda Economic Development Council, a co-chair of the Friendship Festival, and a chair of the Graduate School Business Council at Canisius College.
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• In his 30 years of retirement, Don did not allow himself - nor his engineering mind - to stay idle. In addition to frequent rounds of golf, extensive travel, and large-scale fishing expeditions, Don took up fine woodworking. He meticulously crafted hundreds of beautiful wooden vases and frequently donated them to charity auctions. In 2018, he co-authored and published his first book with Alan Weinstein, Unleashing Human Energy: From a Toxic Culture to a High Energy, High Performance Organization, about Don’s transformational leadership experiences at General Motors. In 2022, the duo released their second book about organizational culture, Healthy Culture, Healthy Business: Twenty-One Ways to Build a Culture for Success.
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• In addition to his devotion to his wife and daughters, Don found great joy in his eight grandchildren and his nineteen great-grand-children: Megan Cole (Trevor; Brayden, Kaylee, Kelsey), Morgan Harpster (Noah; Blake, Brooks, Blaire), Zachary McArdle (Jenna; Kristopher, Elijah, Benjamin, Naomi), Collin McArdle (Natalie; Josephine, Theodore, Penelope, Phoebe), Grant Karlson (Sabrina; Peyton), Anna Chang (Matthew; Nathan, Aaron), Connor Maloney (Kayla; Madeline, Quinn), and Nolan McArdle (Katie). In his role as Papa, Don was a master of both teasing and gift-giving. He often apprenticed his grandchildren into some of his favorite hobbies, including fishing and woodworking. He was also notorious for his regular inspections of his family members’ cars, complete with robust commentary on the enduring value of the American automobile.
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Don Rust’s mark on Western New York’s economy and community was immense, but his impact on his family cannot be fully captured or expressed. In addition to his wife, Arliss; his daughters, Stephanie Karlson (Steve) and Lisa Maloney; and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Don is survived by a son-in-law, Robert McArdle (Gail), and a sister, Jeanne Woodley, of Luverne, Minnesota. Don was preceded in death by his daughter, Kristie McArdle; two brothers, Keith and Albert “Bud” Rust; and two sisters, Patricia Roberts and Colleen Cragoe.

A celebration of life service will be held at Revive Wesleyan Church in Hamburg on Saturday, June 13 at 1:00 p.m., with visitation to take place from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations in Donald's name may be made to the Bayview Chapel at Revive Wesleyan - Online Giving or the Wounded Warrior Project - Donate.