John M. DONAHUE

DONAHUE, John M.

John M. Donahue, 88, passed away Tuesday after a brief illness. He was surrounded by his family in his final days and was of sharp mind and nimble wit until the end. Mr. Donahue was for 40 years an attorney for Robinson & Cole, a Hartford law firm. He specialized in trusts and estates law and, for several years, chaired the managing committee. He was active in the public life of Farmington, where he served two terms on the town council, chaired two charter revision committees and also brought his expertise to the town's zoning board of appeals. Mr. Donahue retired in 1990, and for 10 years thereafter he volunteered for the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving as a development consultant. In his spare time, post-retirement, Mr. Donahue studied French and Japanese; led friends on walking trips through France, England, Italy, and Switzerland; and tutored and life-coached émigrés from Sierra Leone and Gambia. He spent his final years living in West Hartford. The son of William J. and Florence M. Donahue, John McFall Donahue grew up in suburban Philadelphia, attending Penn Charter School there before graduating from Yale College in the class of 1945W. During World War II and the Korean conflict, he served in the U.S. Naval Intelligence, translating documents. He went to Yale Law School and launched his legal career here in Hartford, as a clerk for J. Joseph Smith, Judge of the U.S. District Court. Mr. Donahue is survived by his wife of 50 years, Barbara Donahue; Bill Donahue and Allie Donahue, of Portland, Oregon; Jane Donahue, Bill Appleton, Isabelle Appleton, and Kate Appleton, of St. Louis; and Tim Donahue, Jen Walton, and Paige Donahue, of New York City.
Mr. Donahue's family will celebrate his life with a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Peter Claver Church, 47 Pleasant Street, West Hartford, on Saturday, March 17 at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers, please make memorial contributions to the John and Barbara Donahue Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, 10 Columbus Blvd., 8th floor, Hartford, CT 06106.