Diane L. Donio

February 14, 1935 - October 24, 2025

Diane Louise Donio died on October 24, 2025, surrounded by her family at the beautiful age of 90. Daughter of the late Joseph and Anna B. DiMarino, Diane was born in 1935 on Valentine's Day in Hammonton, NJ. The youngest of four children, Diane spent her childhood days in Hammonton. When her father died in 1945, Diane and her mother remained in their modest home on Cherry Street. Diane graduated in 1952 from Hammonton High School, where she was a majorette and had leading roles in the high school plays.

Shortly after her high school graduation, she met her husband, Samuel, on the commuter train when she was traveling to work in a department store in Philadelphia and Sam was traveling to Rutgers Law School in Camden. They married in 1956 and lived in Maryland while Sam served in the Navy, and then returned to Hammonton, where they raised five children. Diane always reflected that for almost her entire life, she resided in four houses within a five-block radius.

While raising her children, Diane was active in the Hammonton Home School Association (a parent-teacher organization). After being a homemaker for many years, Diane decided to pursue a college education. She earned her associate's degree with honors in 1983 from Atlantic Cape Community College (where her husband Sam had been a founding member of the Board of Trustees). She graduated in December 1984 with honors from Stockton University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in psychology. While in school, she served on the Hammonton/Mullica Township Juvenile Conference Committee. She later served on the Atlantic Cape Community College Foundation from 2008 to 2017 in a number of capacities and received the Distinguished Foundation Board Member Award in 2018.

Following her college graduation, she embarked on a career of helping others, first as an Associate for the Camden County Mental Health Association and then as the Director of the Family Companion Program, Burlington County Mental Health Association. Diane then went on to serve as the Office Manager for the Hammonton law firm, where her husband, daughter Ann, and son William practiced law. She was a founding trustee of the Samuel A. Donio Foundation for Education, which her children established upon Sam's untimely passing in 1999 in honor of his dedication to education. Diane became a trustee emeritus in 2023. After her retirement in 2003, Diane volunteered as a tutor with Literacy Volunteers Association Cape-Atlantic and spent time traveling the world.

Diane devoted her time to her family and spent many a day providing wonderful meals for her children and grandchildren. Hailing from the blueberry capital of the world, Diane perfected the sweetest blueberry pie. Her delicious gravy and meatballs were Sunday favorites that her family enjoyed weekly at her house -- a house always filled with laughter, joy, and lively conversation.

Diane is survived by her children, Samuel A. Donio, Jr. and his wife, Nancy, Ann Donio and her husband, David Enscoe, Paul Donio, Robert Donio, and William S. Donio, Esquire and his wife, Nicole; nine grandchildren, Anna Donio, David Donio-Enscoe (Sierra Ford), Abigail Donio, Jane Donio-Enscoe, Chiara Donio, Samuel P. Donio, Sophia Donio, Mia Donio, and Lucia Donio; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins. In addition to her parents and husband, she was predeceased by her siblings, Vivian Continisio, Evelyn Palmer, and Joseph DiMarino.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Joseph Church, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, in Hammonton on Wednesday, October 29, 2025. There will be a viewing from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., immediately followed by a Mass. In memory of Diane, donations may be made to the Samuel A. Donio Foundation for Education, P.O. Box 88, Hammonton, NJ 08037, which provides numerous scholarships to local graduating high school and college students.

Carnesale Funeral Home

Hammonton, NJ

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Published by The Press of Atlantic City on Oct. 28, 2025.