In Memoriam: Retired US Chamber of Commerce CEO Thomas J. Donohue ’63C, ’85HON

St. John’s University mourns the passing of former US Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer Thomas J. Donohue ’63C, ’85HON, who died at home in northern Virginia on Monday, October 14, surrounded by loved ones after a brief illness.

Honored with the Spirit of Service Award at the University’s 2021 Annual President’s Dinner, Mr. Donohue was the personification of a hardworking and successful St. John’s graduate.

“The prayers of the St. John’s University family are offered to all who knew and loved Tom Donohue, a model public servant and accomplished and dedicated alumnus,” remarked Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P., President of St. John’s. “Their shared St. John’s experience greatly influenced the generosity demonstrated by Tom and his late wife, Elizabeth.”

Born in Brooklyn, NY, he grew up in Rockville Centre, NY, where his parents moved amid the post-World War II housing boom. He often credited his free-market views to his experiences as a hardworking teenager. 

For college, Mr. Donohue chose to attend his father’s alma mater, St. John’s University. That allowed him to continue living at home, which saved him money. He usually held four jobs at once to pay his way through school. He delivered meat for a butcher shop, mowed lawns, worked for a pharmacy, and delivered liquor to Wall Street during the Christmas season. He later earned an M.B.A. at Adelphi University while working for the Boy Scouts of America.

After a series of college fund-raising jobs, from 1969 to 1976, he served as US Deputy Assistant Postmaster General, negotiating with unions over labor contracts. He first worked for the US Chamber of Commerce for eight years, from 1976 until 1984. He then became President and CEO of the American Trucking Associations, where he became a well-known Washington, DC, lobbyist. 

Mr. Donohue rejoined the chamber in 1997 as leader of the organization, a role he held until his retirement in 2021. He was credited with transforming the world’s largest business organization. During his tenure, Mr. Donohue built the chamber into a lobbying and political powerhouse, with expanded influence across the globe, and helped secure business victories on Capitol Hill in the regulatory agencies, in politics, in courts of law, in the court of public opinion—and before governments around the world.

Mr. Donohue led efforts to expand trade and domestic energy production; rebuild America’s infrastructure; combat an avalanche of new regulations; protect intellectual property; revitalize capital markets; and advocate for legal, tax, education, and entitlement reform. Under Mr. Donohue’s leadership, the chamber emerged as a major political force in races for the US Senate and House of Representatives. As part of this bipartisan effort, millions of grassroots business advocates, and the chamber’s federation of state and local chambers and industry associations, mobilized in support of probusiness candidates.

Giving back to his alma mater, for years, Mr. Donohue regularly supported the Alumni Insider’s View…US Capital program. Early in his career, he served as a guest alumni panelist and later often hosted alumni receptions at the DC headquarters of the American Trucking Associations and the chamber.

He was awarded honorary degrees from Adelphi, St. John’s, Marymount, Bradley, and Pepperdine universities, along with the National University of Ireland at Maynooth. He was awarded the Horatio Alger Award and the Boy Scouts of America National Capital Area Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He held the highest civilian honor from Germany and South Korea, the Order of the Crown (Commander Class), presented by the Crown Prince of Belgium, and the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun awarded by the government of Japan.

Mr. Donohue and his late wife, Liz, have three sons and five grandchildren.

The Donohue Family would like to share that a Mass celebrating the life of Thomas J. Donohue will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, October 29, at St. Matthew's Cathedral, 1725 Rhode Island Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036.

A reception will follow the Mass.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Tom’s memory to So Others Might Eat (SOME).