Share:

After 97 years of a life spent in generous service to the Catholic Church, Rosemary E. Donohue passed away this past Friday. The date of her death — November 13, 2015 — is a fitting one, as it is the feast of America’s first saint, Frances Xavier Cabrini. Like Mother Cabrini, Miss Donohue was a champion of education, health care, and religious communities — and a spiritual mother to many.

“Through her personal generosity to various causes and as a trustee of the Dan Murphy Foundation, Rosemary Donohue was one of Southern California’s great philanthropists,” says Thomas Aquinas College President Michael F. McLean. “Not only was she, personally, a loyal benefactor of the College, but with her support, the Foundation was also particularly generous to the College. It helped us to become established in the 1970s and to build up our campus in the following decades. We encourage all to join us in praying for the repose of her soul.”

The oldest of three children in a German-Irish Catholic family, Miss Donohue was raised in the New York/New Jersey area in the early years of the 20th century. Her mother died when she was four years old, and so her father, a physician, raised the couple’s three young children alone. Upon graduating from high school, Miss Donohue attended the famed Parson’s Fashion School of Design in New York City. She then began a remarkable career in fashion merchandising with leading New York City retailers including Lord & Taylor, where she established herself as a visionary of fashion trends.

Rosemary and Sir Daniel Donohue at the College’s 25th Annive
Rosemary and Sir Daniel Donohue at the College’s 25th Anniversary dinner in 1996In 1954 Miss Donohue traveled to California to attend the wedding of her younger brother Daniel to Bernardine Murphy, the daughter of Antoinette and Dan Murphy, a prominent California philanthropist and industrialist. Rosemary, Daniel, and Bernardine formed a deep bond. Shortly thereafter, at Bernardine’s suggestion, Rosemary decided to leave her fast-paced New York life behind and move west to be near the couple. On the West Coast, she provided custom fashion design services to leading Southern California social figures. Her unique and instantly recognizable haute couture designs — known for exquisite fabrics, trim and decoration — were admired and copied by many.

It was around this time that Miss Donohue befriended Sr. Fidelis of the Daughters of Charity, who administered St. Vincent’s Hospital in Los Angeles. Sr. Fidelis asked her to head up the hospital’s personnel department during a critical period of reorganization. Thus began her involvement with the Daughters of Charity, which would continue throughout her life.

Miss Donohue moved to San Francisco in the early 1960s to work with the Daughters’ outreach program for unwed mothers. She got involved in Republican politics and took over as head of the San Francisco headquarters for the Goldwater presidential campaign in 1964. When the campaign came to an end, she found herself missing Daniel and Bernardine, and therefore returned to Los Angeles, where she would devote the rest of her life to philanthropic activity.

Sir Daniel and Rosemary with His Eminence Jan Cardinal Schot
Sir Daniel and Rosemary with His Eminence Jan Cardinal Schotte and President Thomas E. Dillon at Commencement 1999By then Daniel and Bernardine were busy managing The Dan Murphy Foundation, which they had established in 1957 to promote important Catholic philanthropic causes. So helpful to the Church was the Foundation that His Holiness Pope John XXIII dubbed Bernardine a “Papal Countess,” the only such title given to an American during his pontificate. Several years later, His Holiness Pope Paul VI conferred on Daniel the title, “Gentleman of His Holiness,” the highest award bestowed on a layman in the Church, and the first such award ever given to an American.

Countess Bernardine died unexpectedly in 1968, leaving Sir Daniel to carry on the work of their Foundation. Sir Daniel thus invited his sister, Rosemary, to serve on the Foundation’s board with him.

In 1984 Miss Donohue was honored as a Lady of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and was promoted to Lady Commander in 1997. His Holiness Pope John Paul II also conferred on her the honorary Cross Pro-Ecclesia et Pontifice medal. In 1993 Miss Donohue became one of 13 women in the world, and one of the first Americans, to be honored as a Dame of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great.

Sir Daniel and Rosemary at Commencement 1999, at which the C
Sir Daniel and Rosemary at Commencement 1999, at which the College inducted the Dan Murphy Foundation into the Order of St. Albert the Great“We always try to act as our faith leads us, but there is something very powerful about being in the company of the representatives of Christ,” she once said of her extensive work with so many princes of the Church. “You see that our church is a church of people, and it makes you think of how Our Lord has used people throughout time to spread the Gospel to all nations.”

The Dan Murphy Foundation and Miss Donohue became active with the College shortly after its founding. “Back in 1978, I went to a talk at the Jonathan Club in Los Angeles given by [Founding President] Ron McArthur. I could see that he had a great idea,” Miss Donohue recalled in 1998. “As I became more involved, I could see they were doing a great job with the students. You could actually see that a genuinely Catholic education was giving young people a foundation on which to rebuild society.” Miss Donohue joined the College’s Board of Governors in 1986, and in 1997 she became chairman of its Trusteeship Committee.

For nearly 40 years the Dan Murphy Foundation has been tremendously generous to the College. Its annual gifts have been a mainstay of the College’s financial aid program, and its Donohue Endowed Scholarship Fund more than sextupled the College’s endowment to provide scholarships in perpetuity for deserving students. The Foundation also provided lead gifts and leadership to spearhead the design and construction of St. Bernardine of Siena Library and Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel. In gratitude, the College inducted the Foundation into the Order of St. Albert the Great in 1999.

Miss Donohue retired from the Board in 2010 and, by resolution of her erstwhile colleagues, was granted emeritus status in honor of her many years of exemplary service. “The College has a great future,” she remarked nearly 20 years ago. “I feel like all of these students are my children — my special brood.”

Funeral Information

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Monday November 23, 2015 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels at 9:30 a.m. Interment will be in The Mausoleum at the Cathedral. The family will receive visitors starting at 8:30 a.m. In memory of Miss Donohue, donations can be made to the Cloistered Carmelite Monks at Cody, Wyoming; the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Los Angeles, California; or Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, California.