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IN MEMORIAM: STRACHAN DONNELLEY | ||||||||||
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Strachan Donnelley (recently) |
Printing heir, nature steward
Philanthropist also was a philosopher
Strachan Donnelley, a philanthropist and philosopher, made a lifelong study
of the intricate relationships between humans and nature in pursuit of a
conservation-centered concept he called "democratic ecological citizenship."
An heir to the Chicago-based Donnelly printing fortune, Dr. Donnelley, 66,
died of stomach cancer on Saturday, July 12, in his New York home, said Paul
Heltne, director of the Center for Humans and Nature in Chicago. Dr.
Donnelley co-founded the center in 2002 and was its president.
Dr. Donnelley's interest in the natural world took root at an early age, as
he roamed the land surrounding his home, Windblown Hill in Lake County, and
mucked around the sloughs of the Illinois River Valley on the family
duck-hunting retreat near De Pue, Ill. A couple of hunting trips to the
Rocky Mountains with his father and brother were also influential, said his
sister, Laura.
Dr. Donnelley was for many years affiliated with the Hastings Center in
Garrison, N.Y., a bioethics think tank. As the center's director of
education and later president, he studied end-of-life and animal research
issues. Although he lived in New York for most of his adult life, he was
frequently in Chicago, discussing regional planning and other issues at the
Chicago Academy of Sciences and researching economic and agricultural models
that were ecologically sustainable.
"He started in an almost theoretical vein, but based on a commitment to
nature, that we are stewards of nature and we have to take care of it better
than we have done," his sister said.
The Center for Humans and Nature, started in Chicago and with offices in New
York and South Carolina, brings together thinkers from many fields to look
at the "long-term implications of how humans live on this planet," said
Jerry Adelmann, the chairman.
With the term "democratic ecological citizenship," Dr. Donnelley made the
argument that "our citizenship must be seen as embedded in nature, or
dependent on nature," Heltne said.
Playing off his interest in music, he often used the phrase "orchestral
causation" as a theory to explain that "the whole is not merely greater than
the sum of the parts, but different," said Wes Jackson, director of the Land
Institute in Kansas, where Dr. Donnelley was a board member and donor.
"He was busy in his philanthropy. He was not a lazy philanthropist," said
Jackson, explaining that Dr. Donnelley became involved in the causes to
which he gave money.
Dr. Donnelley's father, Gaylord, who died in 1992, was the onetime chairman
and president of R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., the mammoth commercial printing
concern founded in 1864 by Dr. Donnelley's great-grandfather.
Dr.
Donnelley inherited his father's passion for duck hunting and conservation,
a cause long championed by the family's Chicago-based philanthropic
foundation. He chaired the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation from 1992
to 2003, giving away more than $50 million.
He was a multisport star at the Hotchkiss School and Yale University, where
he received a degree in English literature. He went on to get his master's
and doctoral degrees from the New School for Social Research (now known as
the New School) in New York.
Dr. Donnelley had recently compiled a collection of his writings titled,
"Living Waters, Magic Mountains: Explorations of a Fly-fishing Philosopher."
Dr. Donnelley is also survived by his wife, Vivian; five daughters, Inanna,
Naomi, Tegan, Aidan Rowley and Ceara Berry; a brother, Elliott; and five
grandchildren.
A memorial gathering is set for 10 a.m. Saturday in the Fullerton Auditorium
of the Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave.
Remembrance by Chris Getman '64
It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that I write to inform you
that Strachan died at 5:00 AM on July 12th after a long and courageous bout
with stomach cancer.
He died on his own terms, peacefully, at home and holding Vivian's hand. He
faced his death with courage and humor, just as he challenged his life.
His great legacy will be the Center for Humans and Nature which he started
from scratch and which is now a vibrant and well sustained organization
which deals in thoughtful and substantive ways with the many challenges
facing our planet. It's a shame that he didn't have much of a chance to see
CFHAN running at full throttle, but he died knowing that it was doing so.
He is survived by his remarkable wife, Vivian, five gorgeous and gifted
daughters, four sons-in-law and five grandchildren with another on the way.
There will be a private funeral in Libertyville, IL, on Thursday, July 17th,
a memorial service in Chicago on the 19th, and a memorial service in New
York in September.
We lost a great one. I will keep you posted as I know more.
Remembrance by Ed Ranney '64
As Strachan Donnelley’s first cousin, sharing a deep personal
relationship with him through our shared experiences growing up 1/2 a mile
apart in rural Libertyville, attending together Lake Forest Country Day
School, The Hotchkiss School, and Yale, I am privileged to report on the
two beautiful memorial services held for Strachan recently in Illinois.
Family members and close friends gathered to celebrate his life on July 17th
at Windblown Hill, the family farm where he grew up and which he continued
to maintain. The service was orchestrated by Father Stan Gumula, successor
to Father Francis Kline, Abbot of Mepkin Abbey, Moncks Corner, South
Carolina. Strachan had become close to both Cistercian monks through his
efforts to support conservation efforts in the area near Ashepoo, the
lowland plantation his parents Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley acquired in the
late 1960s, which continued to be a cherished family gathering place for
Strachan and his siblings, and their descendents.
Father Stan and Strachan’s wife Vivian chose readings reflective of
Strachan’s concern for the natural landscape, highlighting the significant
role Strachan had taken in spreading seeds of thought regarding the
necessity of conservation efforts. Readings were from John Elof Boodin's Cosmic Evolution; Matthew 13:1-9; Aldo Leopold’s
Sand County Almanac, and
Norman Macle()an’s novel, A River Runs Through It. Those who knew of, or
shared personally, Strachan’s love of trout fishing will be pleased to
know, as his sister Laura informed us in a moving tribute, that he was
buried in his trout-fishing clothes.
Each of Strachan’s five daughters, Inanna, Naomi, Aidan, Ceara, and Tegan
shared touching personal remembrances, and his four sons-in-law offered
perceptive words of thanksgiving for his life and work. Wes Jackson,
President of the Land Institute, Salina, Kansas, on whose Board of Directors
Strachan served for many years, briefly outlined the importance of
Strachan’s life work, before packets of seeds from the Land Institute’s seed
bank were distributed to all in attendance. Following the service Strachan
was buried next to his parents in the Lake Forest Cemetery.
On July 19th a public memorial for Strachan was held in Fullerton
Auditorium, at the Art Institute of Chicago. Brooke Hecht, Acting President,
Center for Humans Nature, NY, the non-profit organization Strachan founded
in 2002, presided and was followed by speakers who addressed the many
aspects of Strachan’s life. These were: Jerry Adelmann, Executive Director,
Openlands, Chicago; George Ranney, President, Chicago Metropolis 2020; Henry
Betts, past Medical Director/Persident/CEO, Rehabilitation Institute of
Chicago; Paul Heltne, Director, Center For Humans and Nature, Chicago
Office; Mark Siegler, Director, MacLean Center of Clinical Medical Ethics,
University of Chicago; and Wes Jackson, President, The Land Institute.
Strachan’s wife Vivian, inspired by her daughters’ words on Thursday,
offered a deeply felt and beautifully written letter of thanks and
appreciation for her life with Strachan. Live quartet/quintet music began
and ended the memorial, and a series of pictures of Strachan and family,
accompanied by recorded excerpts of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem, was presented
as special testimony to a life and family of deep personal commitment and
feeling.
A memorial service is being planned to take place in New York City, where
Strachan and Vivian had lived since 1969, sometime in late September. A book
of Strachan’s essays is being prepared for publication, and the website
Humans and Nature provides an excellent summary of Strachan’s
work and career.