JOHN O'DONNELL

1933 - 2022

O'DONNELL, John Retired New England Developer, Loving Father, Husband, and a Voracious Reader Age 89, of Cohasset and Westwood, Massachusetts, died on Wednesday, October 12, 2022, due to complications of Alzheimer's Disease. He was born July 10, 1933, the son of John James O'Donnell and Bridget Christine (Haren) O'Donnell of Sligo, Ireland and Attleboro, Massachusetts. The youngest of four, John attended Attleboro High School, Boston College '56 and Georgetown Law '59. While in Washington, D.C. and pursing his J.D. degree, he worked at the CIA, where he met his wife of 62 years, Margaret "Jill" (May) O'Donnell, originally of Chevy Chase, Maryland. John practiced law in Washington, D.C. with Ross, Hardies, O'Keefe, McDugald, and Parsons before founding the State Street Development Company of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1971. Through its forty-plus years, the company completed a broad range of development and managerial activities, including work with housing authorities to add hundreds of "turn-key" units for elderly and low-income residents in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. John was active in the National Home Builder's Association, and elected to Senior Life Membership on the Board of Directors. John and Jill established roots in Cohasset, where they raised their family and devoted their lives to family, friends, community, and their Church. John read voraciously, enjoyed daily drives along the shore, and endless walks through Wompatuck State Park. He was happiest traveling the world with Jill and family. John possessed the rare gifts of charity, generosity, and humility and his reserved yet congenial personality touched those he met. John was predeceased by his parents; and sister, Sister Mary O'Donnell (Mary Colum), OP. He is survived by his sisters, Elizabeth "Betty" Berry of Pembroke, Massachusetts, Annie K. "Jackie" Burch of Pawtucket, Rhode Island; his wife; and their three children, John Stephen O'Donnell (Julia Kadison) of Chatham, New York, Michael T. O'Donnell (Sonja Krusic O'Donnell) of Castine, Maine, and Susan Jasmine O'Donnell of New York, New York; and grandchild, Julian Krusic O'Donnell. Services were already held.

View the online memorial for John O'DONNELL