For Immediate Release: March 15, 2004
Further information: Ann Scanlon 617-514-1662
Boston, MA – The Friends of the John F. Kennedy Library has named Richard K. Donahue as its 2004 Irishman of the Year. Donahue, a resident of Lowell, MA, will be honored for his outstanding contribution to the community at a reception and dinner at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum on Monday, March 15, 2004. Donahue is an attorney, business leader, and former assistant to President John F. Kennedy.
Among those paying tribute to Donahue will be U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy.
The Friends of the Kennedy Library was organized in the 1980s to help support the work of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. The Irishman of the Year Award was established in 1986 to pay tribute to individuals of Irish heritage who contribute to their community. The Friends of the Kennedy Library present the award annually to honor President Kennedy’s love of his Irish heritage and his belief that one person can make a difference and every person should try.
“Richard Donahue is an unsung hero,” said Don Dowd, President of the Friends of the Kennedy Library. “He has worked tirelessly behind the scenes, receiving little reward or acknowledgement other than the satisfaction of knowing he has made a contribution. His commitment to the community and political activism is testimony to President Kennedy’s conviction that one person can truly make a difference. We of Irish descent are proud to honor him as our Irishman of the Year.”
Donahue, vice chairman of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, has maintained a private law practice since 2001. Prior to establishing his private practice, Mr. Donahue was partner in Donahue & Donahue Attorneys from 1951 to 2001. Mr. Donahue was an assistant to President John F. Kennedy in the White House from 1960 to 1963. He was president and chief operating officer for NIKE, Inc. from 1990 to 1994. He currently serves as vice chairman of the Board for NIKE where he has been a director since 1977.
Mr. Donahue is the Chair of the Executive Committee of Greater Lowell Community Foundation and Conciliator of the Lowell Superior Court Conciliation Program. He is a Trustee of The Joyce Foundation. He is former president of the Board of Directors of the Whistler House Museum and a former director of EPITOPE, Inc. and of the Courier Corporation. He was formerly member of the board of visitors of the University or Oregon School of Law in Eugene.
Mr. Donahue is a former president of the New England Bar Association and of the Massachusetts Bar Association from which he received the Gold Medal in 1979. He is the recipient of several honorary degrees. Mr. Donahue is a graduate of Dartmouth College and of Boston University Law School, which honored him with the Silver Shingle Award in 1991.
Mr. Donahue is an original member of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award Committee, which he served and chaired from its inception in 1989 through.
Past recipients of the Irishman/Irishwoman of the Year award include Peter O’Connell, developer of Marina Bay in Quincy; Dottie Curran, director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Boston; Martin Nolan of The Boston Globe; Gerard Doherty, attorney and political consultant; Senator Edward M. Kennedy; former Senate President William Bulger; Ethel Kennedy; former State Representative James Brett; the late Congressman Joseph Moakley; the late Dave Powers, assistant to President Kennedy and museum curator emeritus of the John F. Kennedy Library; Don Dowd, vice president and northeast manager of government affairs for the Coca-Cola Company; John Cullinane, an entrepreneur in the nation’s computer software industry; Edward Martin, former city editor for the Boston Herald Traveler and longtime aide to Senator Edward M. Kennedy; the late William Connell, chairman and chief executive of Connell Limited Partnership; Paul G. Kirk, Jr., former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates, and chairman of the Board of Directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation; and Alice Fitzgerald, longtime Cambridge community and political activist.
The John F. Kennedy Library and Museum is a presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration and supported, in part, by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, a non-profit organization. The Kennedy Library and the Kennedy Library Foundation seek to promote, through educational and community programs, a greater appreciation and understanding of American politics, history, and culture, the process of governing and the importance of public service.