John Robert “Bob” Donohue died the morning of Sept. 16, 2024, at Monmouth Medical Center surrounded by his family. He was 89 years old.
Born March 26, 1935, on Staten Island to Joseph and Nellie Donohue, Bob spent his childhood with his older siblings, Alice, Joseph and Margaret, on Davis Avenue. Bob attended Sacred Heart Grammar School and St. Peter’s High School. His Catholic school education enriched his life immeasurably, which continually left his family and friends marveling at all the Latin phrases he remembered.
He enjoyed playing sports growing up and in adult life; in particular baseball at Walker Park, basketball at the Downtown Athletic Club in Manhattan on his lunch hour, and tennis.
He attended St. Peter’s College in Jersey City and began his first professional career at Grace Line in Manhattan, where he met his future wife Mary Ann. Bob asked Mary Ann out for a date a few times and she said, “No.” At a work holiday party at Tavern on the Green, he asked her to dance and she said, “Yes.” Having learned how to dance from his sister Alice in their family kitchen, Bob was a fabulous swing dancer. The rest is history.
Bob and Mary Ann were married Sept. 10, 1960, and they continued to dance and sing through their beautiful life together. Their four children, Coleen, Karen, Jean-Marie and Bobby, were born on Staten Island. The family eventually settled in Shrewsbury in 1973. “39 Court Drive” in Shrewsbury would become known to many as more than Bob Donohue’s address. It is a cherished home that has hosted many family and friends with holidays, track parties, family reunions and “Poppy Hours” over many decades.
Bob’s career in the shipping industry led him to travel all over the world, even receiving middle-of-the-night phone calls from ship captains. Notably, he spent long periods of time in India, where he made many personal as well as professional connections. He brought home exotic gifts for his family and made the most of his travel, recounting wonderful stories later in his life from far-off lands. He eventually retired as the executive vice president of Waterman Steamship Corporation – happily ending many years of commuting to New York City on NJ Transit!
Thrilled with life, Bob organized family vacations that usually included relatives, multiple families and friends. As an Army veteran, Bob excelled at getting his children and friends up early to ride their bikes to Sunday Mass, play tennis or jump in the ocean. When the children were young, Bob coordinated trips to Loon Lake in the Adirondacks with the Brennan, Mann and Crowe families. The Loon Lake “experience” is remembered by many in the next generation as something magical.
Along with spending time in India, Bob traveled internationally to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Singapore, Europe, Saudi Arabia, Bermuda and Ireland. In the U.S., he traveled widely as well and enjoyed seeing many of the beautiful places for which America is known. Bob was particularly impressed with the National Parks. Many summer vacations were spent in his beloved Avalon, renting a house there and filling it to the brim with extended family. Bob’s family has many memories of Avalon and the good times they had with the Donohue and Lynch relatives.
Bob was a loving father to Coleen, Karen, Jean-Marie and Bobby. He was “Poppy” to his nine grandchildren and most recently earned the title of great-grandfather. Loving a good joke, you could always count on him to deliver a good punch line – and he was quick-witted. Bob excelled at taking life’s challenges and equating them to a good movie line – he was particularly known to give out advice to his children this way. Catchphrases were an integral part of his vocabulary at family gatherings, “My strength is like the strength of 10 because my heart is pure.”
Like the rest of his siblings, Bob was a born entertainer and a fan of the silver screen. He naturally had a great voice and he loved to sing – primarily Irish songs and show tunes. Many times he would be accompanied by Mary Ann, his brother Joe and friends and relatives.
As a devout Catholic, Bob was an exceptional family man. He spent his life caring for and loving Mary Ann (while gingerly escaping home “KP” duty), ensuring that love trickled down to all his future generations and extended to the large web of Donohues, Lynchs, and all of his dear friends.
Bob expressed his thoughts on the value of his family through quotes from the movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai.” One of the only disagreements his children witnessed him have with Mary Ann was on who was a better entertainer – Judy Garland or Liza Minelli. He loved to cook, including making mango chutney in the crockpot, which he would jar and distribute to family and friends.
Bob also loved truthful obituaries. In the 1990s, he read an honest obituary in the Wall Street Journal, copied it and mailed it to many, with a note on how great an honest obituary is. He probably would say this obituary is “too much. Do you believe this guy?”
He loved to mail and fax articles and recipes to family and friends throughout his entire life. He was a gifted writer – creative in his sentences and thoughts. He had a wealth of what he called “useless information” which he put to good use while watching “Jeopardy!” at the dining room table. Later in life, he was an ace at crossword puzzles.
Bob was involved in several local social clubs, including the Shrewsbury Homesteaders and the Briody Bunch, often organizing lunches or dinners at Bahrs or The Shadowbrook restaurants. He loved to go out. Some of his favorite places included Zachary’s (pizza), Huddy’s (liver and onions), The Marina (“we’ll sit at the bar”), and Mr. C’s (ocean view).
Bob is survived by his children, Coleen, Karen, Jean-Marie and Bobby and their partners and spouses, Bruce Stambaugh, John Jayne, Colin Maury, and Michelle Donohue; his grandchildren, Leigh Fulton, Connor and Dillon Stambaugh, Hannah and Joe Jayne, Ian Chick, Isabelle Rosa and Ryan and Emma Donohue; and great-grandchildren, Rowan and Rhys Fulton. He is also survived by 13 nieces and nephews on the Donohue side of the family and 22 on the Lynch side of the family.
A Mass of Christian Burial was held Sept. 23 at St. James Church in Red Bank. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in John Robert Donohue’s memory to the Shrewsbury Police Department (PBA) 308 at P.O. Box 7398, Shrewsbury, NJ 07702 or the Shrewsbury First Aid Squad at P.O. Box 262, Shrewsbury, NJ 07702.
The article originally appeared in the September 26 – October 2, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
