DONNA MACNEIL

MacNEIL--Donna P.

Donna MacNeil (1935-2015) died peacefully in the Visiting Nurse Service of New York Hospice Haven at Bellevue Hospital on February 7, 2015 after a long struggle with lung disease and breast cancer. She was 79 and had lived a varied and colorful life--as a fashion designer's model, avid reader, traveler, photographer, sailor, ballet enthusiast--and adored friend of many for her delicious wit and sweet disposition. She was born in Newark, NJ to Lucille Stagg, a nurse, and Pasquale (Pat) Nappi M.D., a gynecologist. He gave up his practice to serve as an Army doctor during World War 2, the family traveling to a series of military base towns, such as Enterprise, Alabama. Donna often attended several different schools in a year. After the war she attended Prospect Hill Country Day school in Newark, then studied for two years at Skidmore in Saratoga Springs, NY, before transferring to New York University. Graduating in 1956, Donna was accepted in the NYU PhD program in psychology but chose to work to help her first husband, David Powell, study to become a psychiatrist. Donna worked as a model for Monte Sano & Pruzan couturiers. A brief marriage to Thomas McGinley, a Wall Street institutional investor ended when he died in a car accident in Ireland. Donna then joined the Dior-trained French fashion designer, Jacques Tiffeau, winner of Coty Awards in 1960 and 1964. A "perfect six" size, Donna was first his design model, then general assistant. Later, she married Joseph Richards, who worked on the business side of The New Yorker, traveling extensively with him in Europe and Asia. After their divorce in 1984, she married Robert MacNeil, then co- anchor of The MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour on PBS. A keen sailor from childhood, Donna cruised with him up the New England coast and bare-boated in the Caribbean. She also spent several years working as manager of Superlearning, a company selling materials to stimulate the mental states that enhance learning. She survived breast cancer in 2007 but was diagnosed afresh in 2013. She was also hospitalized four times for pneumonia. Donna is survived and mourned by her husband, known to friends as "Robin"; her sister, Carol Wenzel of Millville NJ; her niece Meg O'Callaghan of Rye NY; and her nephew, Gregory Wenzel of Ithaca, NY. A memorial service will be held at a later time.