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Father John W. Donohue, S.J., a writer and educator who served for 35 years on the staff of the Jesuit journal America, died Feb. 17 at Murray-Weigel Hall, the Jesuit health care center in the Bronx. He was 92.
He was assistant editor at America, 1972-1998, and associate editor, 1998-2007, and wrote numerous editorials. From 1972 to 1982 he was executive editor of the publication Catholic Mind.
He taught at Fordham, 1955-1968, and was the first dean of St. Thomas More College, established as a women’s division of Fordham University, 1963-1968. It was later absorbed into the university. He was the assistant to the vice provincial for education and formation, and director of special studies, 1968-1971.
Born in the Bronx, he entered the Jesuits in Poughkeepsie in 1939 and professed vows in 1941. He studied theology at Woodstock College in Maryland, and was ordained in 1950.
He held a doctorate from Yale University in the history and philosophy of education. He was the author of several books including “Catholicism and Education,” “Jesuit Education: An Essay on the Foundations of Its Ideas,” “St. Thomas Aquinas and Education” and “Christian Maturity.”
He is survived by two sisters, Mary McCarren and Cecilia Paulmann.
A Funeral Mass was celebrated Feb. 22 at Fordham University Church, with burial in the Jesuit Cemetery at Auriesville.
