James Edison "Jim" Donaghy

James Edison Donaghy of Heron Point, Chestertown, Maryland, passed away on June 2, 2026. He was 91 years old. He was born in Dormont, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on August 28, 1934, the son of the late Howard and Martha Washabaugh Donaghy. He graduated from Dormont High School in 1952 and won a scholarship to Harvard College where he majored in applied physics. He served on the board of the college’s undergraduate athletic council and was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Upon graduation from Harvard, he was awarded a Research Assistantship by the Sloan School of Management of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from which he received a master’s degree in 1958. He married Anne Taylor Bailey of Chester County, Pennsylvania that same year. He soon joined the E.I. DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware, in the Research Division of the Polychemicals Department, where he was instrumental in developing markets for a high temperature plastic still widely used today. He transferred to the Corporate Development Department in 1970 and was promoted to Director of the Development Division in 1976. Two years later he transferred to the Photo Products Department, Electronics Division, where he became responsible for the Division’s worldwide electronic materials business. He retired from the DuPont Company in 1988. He moved to Burnsville, Minnesota in 1988 to become president of Sheldahl Corporation, an electronic materials company based in Northfield, Minnesota. He retired from Sheldahl in 1999 as Chairman of the Board. While in Minnesota, Mr. Donaghy was an adjunct professor in the Graduate Engineering School of the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul. Throughout his career, Mr. Donaghy was active on numerous boards of community and business organizations, including as chair of the Wilmington, Delaware YMCA and chair of the World Wide Institute of Printed Circuitry. He served on the board of a joint DuPont venture with the Phillips Company in the Netherlands as well as the board of the Minnesota State Chamber of Commerce, and the board of the William Mitchell College of Law. He was a member of the Chester River Yacht and Country Club. He was a woodworker, making beautiful furniture, and a gardener in all seasons. Mr. Donaghy was preceded in death by his sister Marjorie Halladay (Warren). He is survived by his wife, Anne Bailey Donaghy, and by his three children: Julie Western (Shaun) of Ellicott City, Maryland, Stephen Donaghy (Alexandra) of Lake Oswego, Oregon, and Thomas Donaghy (Nancy) of Falls Church, Virginia, and nine grandchildren: Jack (Shelby), Quinn, and Reese Western; Grace, Eliza, and William Donaghy; Kane, Olivia, and Cooper Donaghy, and several nieces and nephews. The family suggests in lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Hillsdale College, 33 E. College St. Hillsdale, MI 49242 or the Animal Care Shelter of Kent County, 10168 Worton Rd. Chestertown, MD 21620.

James Edison "Jim" Donaghy

August 28, 1934 - June 2, 2026