John A. Donovan, Wellesley Town Official, 64
DGH
John Donovan, a Boston, Massachusetts, trial lawyer, died Monday,
November 21, 2005, at his home after a 10-month battle with pancreatic
cancer, at the age of 64.
The year was 1980, and John Anthony Donovan Jr., chairman of the
Wellesley [Massachusetts] Republican Town Committee, was lobbying White
House candidates Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush to appear at a
local political forum.
No thanks, each candidate responded.
Undaunted, Mr. Donovan tried a more creative approach. He told each of
the rival campaigns that the other had accepted his invitation to meet
with Wellesley voters. His ploy worked, and both future presidents
appeared at the historic March 3 forum at Dana Hall School.
Mr. Donovan's enthusiasm for local politics, his longtime service to
the Zoning Board of Appeals, and his participation in a grass-roots
effort to improve commuter rail service to Wellesley left a profound
mark on the town, said Royal H. Switzler, a former Republican state
representative and friend.
"The town will miss John Donovan. He offered a lot over the years to
this town. He put a lot of effort into everything he did, and that will
benefit the community long into the future," Mr. Switzler said.
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mr. Donovan was a 1959 graduate of
Belmont High School, where he was varsity football captain, student
council president, and a pitcher for the school's state champion
baseball team. He shared pitching duties his senior year with future
major leaguer and Red Sox pitcher Wilbur Wood.
He majored in history at Williams College, where he was voted Most
Valuable Player of the college baseball team. Mr. Donovan was a member
of the Delta Delta chapter of the school's Psi Upsilon fraternity, and
was elected its president in 1962. During his senior year, he was
active in the student-led fight against Williams's move to become the
first college in the country to dismantle its Greek social system.
After graduating from Williams in 1963, Mr. Donovan entered Boston
College Law School, where he served as an editor for the Industrial and
Commercial Law Review and met his first wife, fellow law student Amy
Huestis.
The two were married in 1966 by the Rev. Robert F. Drinan, then the law
school dean who later served five terms in the US House of
Representatives.
Mr. Donovan graduated from law school in 1966 and accepted a fellowship
with the Georgetown University Law Center. After graduating from there
with a master's of law in 1968, he served as a clerk for US District
Court Judge Ralph C. Body in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In 1969, he joined the Boston law firm Burns and Levinson, where he
specialized in business litigation for more than 30 years. For 15
years, he served as chairman of the firm's trial department. In 1992,
he was inducted as a fellow into the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Thomas D. Burns, who founded the firm in 1960, described Mr. Donovan as
a "first-rate" trial lawyer with a droll and warm sense of humor. "He
was an extraordinary guy and role model to younger partners," Mr. Burns
said. "He had a wonderful way of getting along with people."
In 2001, Mr. Donovan left Burns and Levinson. Along with partner David
J. Hatem, he cofounded Donovan Hatem LLP of Boston, a business and
insurance defense practice, which now employs more than 70 lawyers.
Mr. Donovan became active in Wellesley politics and civic affairs
shortly after settling there in 1971. A year later, he was elected to
Town Meeting and served more than 16 years. He was appointed to
Wellesley's Zoning Board of Appeals in 1978 and served as its chairman
from 1987 until his retirement in 1999.
Mr. Donovan was particularly proud of his membership in the late 1970s
with the local residents group, Citizens for Rail Transportation. It
lobbied for regular commuter train service to Wellesley and
improvements to town rail stations, which were unmarked and difficult
to navigate. He enjoyed commuting by train to his offices in Boston for
more than 30 years, family members said, until his cancer was diagnosed
in February, family members said.
During his free time, Mr. Donovan enjoyed coaching his five children in
youth soccer and baseball and setting up wintertime skating rinks for
hockey games in the family backyard. An avid skier, hiker, and sports
fan, he held season tickets for the New England Patriots and Boston Red
Sox and was a member of Nehoiden Golf Club.
He married his second wife, Karen (Kellers) of Wellesley, in 1992.
Together, they enjoyed golfing, skiing, and gardening at their home in
Wellesley.
Mr. Donovan also leaves a sister, Elizabeth Yim of Valley Cottage, New
York; two daughters, Jessica Green of Chatham, New Jersey, and Agatha
Walker of New York City, New York; three sons, John III of Natick,
Massachusetts, George of Boston, and Harry of Wellesley, Massachusetts;
and five grandchildren.
Boston Globe