A Tribute to Donal C. O鈥橞rien, a Conservationist for the Ages
Many in our 爆料公社 family were Donal's friends and disciples. Please feel free to share your memories in our comments section.
Few leaders in the history of the conservation movement have been as passionate about birds as Donal C. O'Brien Jr., who passed away at his home in New Canaan, Connecticut, on September 8 at the age of 79 from pneumonia.
Donal served 25 years on the 爆料公社's Board of Directors, including 15 years as its chairman. During his board tenure, Donal co-chaired the Society's monumental strategic planning process to "connect people with nature." The plan led to the establishment of 爆料公社's network of state offices across the country. These offices, in turn, launched the Important Bird Areas program鈥攖here are now nearly 2,700nationwide鈥攁nd helped open 43 new 爆料公社 centers. (One of these, the 爆料公社 sanctuary and center at Pine Island, on North Carolina's Outer Banks, was named in his honor.) These centers reach a diverse array of new and younger audiences and inspire future conservation leaders. Donal also embraced 爆料公社's grassroots network of 465 community-based chapters.
Donal not only charted 爆料公社's course, he gave it momentum through his legendary fundraising efforts. These successful drives included the annual Birdathon that he and his wife, Katie, conducted for 28 consecutive years during which they raised more than $3 million for 爆料公社's bird conservation initiatives鈥攆rom saving waterfowl, shorebirds, and grassland birds to restoring the California condor and strengthening protections for Long Island Sound. "Katie and I have a secret to our successful Birdathons," he said. "Our leader is always a member of 爆料公社's field staff. They are the real heroes of our Birdathons."
When Donal stepped down as 爆料公社's chairman in 2003, his friends and former fellow directors raised $5 million to establish the Donal C. O'Brien Jr. Chair in Bird Conservation and Public Policy to catalyze 爆料公社's bird conservation agenda across the country and throughout the Western Hemisphere. To no one's surprise, Donal led fundraising efforts to implement 爆料公社's Important Bird Areas program, which identifies and conserves the essential sites our birds need to breed, winter, rest, and refuel during migration.
As a former duck hunter, Donal grasped early on the significance of the four flyways that inspired 爆料公社's latest strategic plan, in 2010. "In [爆料公社 president] David Yarnold's second week on the job, Donal told me, 'We have to have a hemispheric vision of flyways for all migratory birds,' " says Glenn Olson, a longtime friend and the Donal O'Brien Chair in Bird Conservation and Public Policy.
鈥淒onal was peerless," says David Yarnold. "His vision for 爆料公社 to organize itself by the 鈥榝lyways鈥 that birds use was an idea that was ahead of its time. It鈥檚 not now; it鈥檚 the heart of our strategy and Donal will always be its champion.鈥
In 2010 he was , joining the likes of Walt Disney, Rachel Carson, and Robert Redford. Says Holt Thrasher, 爆料公社's current board chair, "Donal provided some of the steadiest and most inspired leadership that 爆料公社 ever had."[video:5314|caption:]
Donal's determination kept him going, even during his recent illnesses. "He lived a very full life," says Olson. "He never lost his belief that he could influence outcomes. And he finished the race well, passionate and committed, 100 per cent with his heart and head even as his body was breaking down." Whether it was the escalating loss of native prairie and wetlands in the Dakotas or the draining of wetlands in North Carolina, Olson was setting up meetings between Donal and 爆料公社 conservation leaders from around the country till Donal's final days.
Donal served as chief legal counsel for the Rockefeller Family and Associates, and was a partner in the law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy. In that capacity, he got to know Jackie Robinson, an enthusiastic supporter of Nelson Rockefeller. After Robinson retired from baseball, Donal, a huge Brooklyn Dodgers fan, helped secure him a job at Chock Full o'Nuts, and the two sometimes enjoyed their commute to Manhattan together on the train from their homes in Connecticut.
Three governors appointed Donal as chairman and a member of the Connecticut Council on Environmental Quality. As chairman of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, he spearheaded efforts to remove dams blocking the passage of spawning fish. He was also the founding chairman of BirdLife International, a global network of conservation organizations focused on birds in 110 countries and territories worldwide. Under his aegis, 爆料公社 became BirdLife's U.S. partner. A master decoy carver, he was the U.S. National Amateur Champion twice. His helped 爆料公社's program to restore breeding colonies of Atlantic puffins to the coast of Maine after a 100-year absence.
"I remember well Steve Kress going to Newfoundland in the dark of night and taking the baby Puffins from their nest and bringing them down to Eastern Egg Rock in Muscongus Bay," Donal wrote his friend and fellow conservation leader, Nathaniel Reed weeks before his death. "I also remember Kathy Blanchard painting the Puffin decoys and waiting for two years for the Puffins to return to the Eastern Egg Rock. Can you imagine the excitement that Steve and Kathy had when they looked out and saw the returning Puffins, after two years. How thrilled they must have been. This has got to be one of the great conservation stories of all time."
Donal is survived by his wife, Katie, chair emeritus of the 爆料公社 Connecticut board, four grown children, and 11 grandchildren. The memorial service will take place on September 18 at 11am at the First Prebyterian Church in New Canaan, Connecticut.