David,
Last night while talking till the wee hours with Tom Paul, the question came up of RTJ's founding pop status, and I countered with the comeback that Dr. MacKenzie and that he should probably be given opening crown for "Rock Star-status" because he did hang around some interesting people of celebrity.
I came across something of interest a few weeks ago, pertaining to one of Dr. MacKenzie's visits to Los Angeles. MacKenzie at one point intended to make Los Angeles his home and felt that the region was the most prime spot for golf year round. Also reported in this story was the fact that MacKenzie claimed that he had at an earlier age, a heart attack while on a golf course in England, (blamed on stress) and that it was walking the golf course that helped him cure this stress at his fairly young age.
Another L.A connection for MacKenzie was after he eventually settled in Northern California where on a return trip from New York it had become fashonable for many to go via steamer through the Panama Canel. One article listed MacKenzie as one of the many celebrities on this paticular ship that was arriving in San Pedro's Port of Los Angeles.
Personally, it doesn't sound to me that MacKenzie was going to give up his citizenship or at least at that point hadn't, because I think he was playing off of it, but the chances are he could have been like many modern day rock stars--renouced his citizenship to avoid paying the King his taxes ala many others who set-up shop in the Bahamas or like Tiger Woods, who suddenly went from living in a small track house in Cypress, California to living in a million-dollar condo in Islesworth less then one week after winning his 3rd and final US Amateur.