Gertrude Donahey

Background

Donahey was born in Goshen Township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio.

Career

She earned her bachelor’s at Mann’s Business College in Columbus, Ohio and went to work at the Office of the Ohio Adjutant General"s Business and Finance Division. She was chosen as a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1964 and 1968 and represented Ohio on the Party’s platform and resolution committee. She was hired in 1964 by United States. Senator Stephen M. Young as his executive assistant.

She ran in the Democratic presidential primary in 1976 as a “favorite daughter.” She wasn’t a serious candidate, but rather a placeholder for the party to control delegate votes in Ohio.

In 1970, Donahey was the first woman to be elected to a statewide executive office in Ohio, and second to Ohio Supreme Court judge Florence Ellinwood Allen, as Ohio State Treasurer. She held the position until 1983 in light of an embezzlement scandal which took $1.3 million from her office.

She died in Bexley, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, aged 95.

Membership

Her father-in-law, A. Victor Donahey, was a Governor of Ohio and a member of the United States Senate.

Connections

associate:

Elizabeth Jane Boerger