Strachan Donnelley, 66, philanthropist, philosopher, heir to Chicago-based Donnelly printing fortune
ZapRatz
Printing heir, nature steward
Philanthropist also was a philosopher
By Trevor Jensen | Chicago Tribune reporter
July 16, 2008
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/chi-hed-sdonnelley-16-jul16,0,5884776.story
Strachan Donnelley, a philanthropist and philosopher, made a lifelong
study of the intricate relationships between humans and nature in
pursuit of a conservation-centered concept he called "democratic
ecological citizenship."
An heir to the Chicago-based Donnelly printing fortune, Dr. Donnelley,
66, died of stomach cancer on Saturday, July 12, in his New York home,
said Paul Heltne, director of the Center for Humans and Nature in
Chicago. Dr. Donnelley co-founded the center in 2002 and was its
president.
Dr. Donnelley's interest in the natural world took root at an early
age, as he roamed the land surrounding his home, Windblown Hill in
Lake County, and mucked around the sloughs of the Illinois River
Valley on the family duck-hunting retreat near De Pue, Ill. A couple
of hunting trips to the Rocky Mountains with his father and brother
were also influential, said his sister, Laura.
Dr. Donnelley was for many years affiliated with the Hastings Center
in Garrison, N.Y., a bioethics think tank. As the center's director of
education and later president, he studied end-of-life and animal
research issues. Although he lived in New York for most of his adult
life, he was frequently in Chicago, discussing regional planning and
other issues at the Chicago Academy of Sciences and researching
economic and agricultural models that were ecologically sustainable.
"He started in an almost theoretical vein, but based on a commitment
to nature, that we are stewards of nature and we have to take care of
it better than we have done," his sister said.
The Center for Humans and Nature, started in Chicago and with offices
in New York and South Carolina, brings together thinkers from many
fields to look at the "long-term implications of how humans live on
this planet," said Jerry Adelmann, the chairman.
With the term "democratic ecological citizenship," Dr. Donnelley made
the argument that "our citizenship must be seen as embedded in nature,
or dependent on nature," Heltne said.
Playing off his interest in music, he often used the phrase
"orchestral causation" as a theory to explain that "the whole is not
merely greater than the sum of the parts, but different," said Wes
Jackson, director of the Land Institute in Kansas, where Dr. Donnelley
was a board member and donor.
"He was busy in his philanthropy. He was not a lazy philanthropist,"
said Jackson, explaining that Dr. Donnelley became involved in the
causes to which he gave money.
Dr. Donnelley's father, Gaylord, who died in 1992, was the onetime
chairman and president of R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., the mammoth
commercial printing concern founded in 1864 by Dr. Donnelley's
great-grandfather.
Dr. Donnelley inherited his father's passion for duck hunting and
conservation, a cause long championed by the family's Chicago-based
philanthropic foundation. He chaired the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly
Foundation from 1992 to 2003, giving away more than $50 million.
He was a multisport star at the Hotchkiss School and Yale University,
where he received a degree in English literature. He went on to get
his master's and doctoral degrees from the New School for Social
Research (now known as the New School) in New York.
Dr. Donnelley had recently compiled a collection of his writings
titled, "Living Waters, Magic Mountains: Explorations of a Fly-fishing
Philosopher."
Dr. Donnelley is also survived by his wife, Vivian; five daughters,
Inanna, Naomi, Tegan, Aidan Rowley and Ceara Berry; a brother,
Elliott; and five grandchildren.
A memorial gathering is set for 10 a.m. Saturday in the Fullerton
Auditorium of the Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave.
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