Robert W. Donnahoo, 77, Shriners volunteer, local official
Robert W. Donnahoo Jr. in the late 1990s and early 2000s was a member of the board of governors of Shriners Hospitals for Children-Philadelphia.
Robert W. Donnahoo Jr. in the late 1990s and early 2000s was a member of the board of governors of Shriners Hospitals for Children-Philadelphia.
"He would come home and be crazy about the hospital," crazy happy, his wife, Penny, said in a phone interview.
"He would be there and a little kid would come up to him, tug his coattail and say, 'I'm going to get a new leg today.' "
And the next time that they would meet, his wife said, the child would say to him, "I got my new leg. How does it look?"
It was volunteer work, she said, "with a lot of gratification."
On Thursday, Feb. 20, Mr. Donnahoo, 77, assistant treasurer for Burlington County in the 1990s, died of cancer at his home in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Mr. Donnahoo was the borough administrator for Palmyra Borough in the 1960s, president of its borough council in the 1980s, and president of the school board there in the late 1970s and early 1980s, his wife said.
For a time, she said, he was the administrator for Delran Township.
Born in Inman, S.C., Mr. Donnahoo graduated from Palmyra High School in 1955 and studied accounting at Rutgers-Camden and at what is now Rider University.
The family came to South Jersey when the senior Robert Donnahoo, who worked for the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, was transferred to the area as director for the MidAtlantic region. He mediated labor matters.
The younger Mr. Donnahoo was an enrolled agent for the Internal Revenue Service. Not an employee, such an agent is someone whom the IRS has qualified to represent taxpayers.
Before the Donnahoos moved to Florida in 2004, his wife said, Mr. Donnahoo was for nine years a member of the board of governors of the Shriners hospital in North Philadelphia.
"For a couple years," while a governor, he was also hospital treasurer, his wife said.
And, she said, he was on the board when the hospital built a new operating room and a new pediatric intensive care unit.
A member of the Crescent Shriners organization, now in Westampton, he was its potentate in 2000, and a longtime treasurer of the Burlington County Shrine Club.
"He couldn't say 'No' to anybody," his wife said. "I kept trying to teach him there's a word, 'No.' "
Mr. Donnahoo was a former director of the Crescent Court and a member of the Royal Order of Jesters and the Royal Order of Scotland, all Masonic organizations.
He was president in 2012 of the St. Lucie (Fla.) County Shrine Club and, for a time, president of the Treasure Coast (Fla.) Billiken Club, a Masonic group, and of the St. Lucie River chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution.
He was a member of several accounting groups.
Besides Penny, his wife of 56 years, he is survived by son Robert W. III, daughter Dorothy Matteo and four grandchildren. He was predeceased by son Kenneth.
A visitation was set from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, and from 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday, Mar. 1, at the Weber Funeral Home, 112 Broad St., Riverton, N.J. 08077, before a 10 a.m. funeral service there.
Donations may be sent to the X-Ray renovation project, Shriners Hospitals for Children, 3551 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19140.
Condolences may be offered to the family at the funeral home at the above address.
610-313-8134 @WNaedele