Lee F. Donaghey

Lee F. Donaghey
11/05/2024
Lee F. Donaghey, age 85, of Kensington (Berkeley), CA, died on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.
Born in Washington, D.C., he was the son of the late Joseph and Helen (Johnson) Donaghey. Lee is survived by his brothers, Patrick Donaghey, and wife, Sheila (Matthes) Donaghey of Grass Valley, CA, and Robert Donaghey and wife, Joan Loewenberg of Bedford, MA; his former wife, Judith (Oglesby) Thomas; their son, Thomas Donaghey and wife, Karen (Hardy) Donaghey of Malden, MA; and their daughter, Lynne Donaghey of Buford, GA; grandchildren, Riley Warnicke, Ryan Warnicke and Elinor Donaghey; and dear friends, including Susan Hanford, Linda Morine, Tom and Jean Roth, Elliot Gershon.
Lee received the B.A. degree in Physics from Harvard in 1961, followed by the M.S. and Ph.D. in materials science at Stanford, and worked in academia (UC Berkeley, San Jose State) and in industry (Chevron, in solar energy and hydrocarbon leak detection), but his passions were languages, music, and the outdoors. A lifetime member of the Sierra Club, he was head of its Rock Climbing Section, when he was recruited to join the German Himalayan Expedition of 1964, contributing to the first ever successful summiting of Talung Peak (7,349 m.). He remained physically active throughout his life, climbing and hiking, skiing, hunting and fishing with his brother, Pat, and teaching archery and science in 4-H into his eighties. He sang bass in the First Church Berkeley choir for years and in his retirement played violin with the Really Terrible Symphony Orchestra (Oakland, CA).
Lee's life will be celebrated at First Church Berkeley on Sunday, January 19, at 2:00pm.