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Home » Student Stories » John and Michele Donley Continue His Father’s Tradition of Giving Back to LTU
Lawrence Tech made a huge impact on the Donley family – one they’ve been paying forward ever since.
It all started with John Donley’s father Ed, who wanted to go to college but faced two obstacles: he grew up poor during the depths of the Depression and lacked the resources to pay for school, and the unaccredited high school he graduated from didn’t offer the higher-level math classes typically taken by college-bound students.
What Ed did have were great ambitions and hopes for his life, said John. True to the University’s mission of making sure the college experience wasn’t limited to the wealthy and privileged, one of the University’s founders, George Lawrence, offered Ed a full scholarship to LTU (then, the Lawrence Institute of Technology), contingent on maintaining a B+ average.
Ed Donley served as chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1986-87.
Ed didn’t just maintain a B+ average; he surpassed it and graduated in 1943 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
John, a retired trial attorney, said the scholarship offer was an act of benevolence that changed his father’s life, calling the financial assistance the “portal” to many of his dad’s achievements.
“It changed our whole family’s life,” John added.
Ed did indeed achieve many things – assuming public and private leadership roles, including becoming CEO of Air Products and Chemicals – while passing along his love of education to not only his family, but society at large. In fact, Ed was honored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for his lifetime commitment to excellence in education.
Ed, who passed away in 2017, never forgot that early investment in his education; since then, Ed and his late wife Inez used their generosity to provide talented and deserving students an LTU education through the Edward Donley Scholars Program.
John and Michele Donley
Today, the extended Donley family is continuing the tradition of giving back to Lawrence Tech through generous donations to the scholarship fund from the Donley Foundation, and John and his wife Michele.
“My dad was an ebullient optimist; he would always say that the future is bright and the key thing is to build for the future,” John said. “He felt lucky to be able to offer today’s students the same helping hand Lawrence Tech extended to him, and Michele and I feel very lucky we can help carry the tradition forward.”
AUTHOR: Pam Houghton
We have found the more connected the donor is to LTU programs the bigger their support. We have many ways you can help..
One of the best ways you can help students realize their dream of earning a degree is through an endowed scholarship.
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