Richard King Donahue[1] (July 20, 1927 – December 14, 2015) was an American lawyer, political staffer, and business executive.
During his time on board of Nike, Inc., Donahue's problem-solving and political connections were valuable to the company.
During this time, he saw the company through great expansion, and he has been credited with helping it double its annual sales totals during his four years in these positions.
However, in the late-1990s, he saw his legal reputation take a hit after he was involved in a scheme to use deceptive circumstances to coax a law clerk into saying that Massachusetts District Court Judge Maria Lopez had been entirely biased when she ruled against members of the Demoulas family that were his clients.
[1] In 1952, Donahue met Democratic United States Senate candidate John F. Kennedy in Lowell.
[4] In their book, The Road to Camelot, which details Kennedy's later presidential run, Thomas Oliphant and Curtis Wilkie describe Donahue as having at this point been, "an impressive young man," who, "was beginning to attract notice in the [Democratic] party.
Donahue was a member of that inner circle, often dubbed the "Irish Mafia", which also included Charles U. Daly, Larry O'Brien, Kenneth O'Donnell, David Powers, and Ralph A.
[3] As part of this, Donahue handled the transition team's management communications from Vice President-elect Lyndon B. Johnson's office requesting political appointments.
[11] In the White House, Donahue served as an assistant/special consultant" to President Kennedy, holding the title "staff assistant to the President" tasked with focusing on "Congress relations" (acting as a liaison between the Kennedy White House and the United States Congress) and patronage appointments.
[1][3][4] Expecting the birth of his eighth child, Donahue decided to leave the White House for more lucrative prospects in private legal practice, resigning in mid-November 1963.
In September 1977, the justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court appointed Donahue to succeed Robert Meserve in a three-year term as the board's chairman.
[3] Donahue became involved after the president of the then-president Oregon Bar Association had requested Donahue use his federal government political connections to assist the fledging shoe company to resolve a number of matters, including the payment of very high customs fees to the United States Customs Service.
[4] Donahue's political connections were valuable to the company, helping them early on to overcome such challenges.
[4][14] In his first decade with Nike, Donahue served as its director, playing an active part in decisions that saw the company make an international expansion and position itself as a major competitor in the athletic footwear market.
[4] It was announced by the company on June 18, 1990, that they had selected Donahue to become its new chief operating officer (COO) and to be the first occupant of its newly created corporate presidency beginning on July 1, 1990.
[4][16] Phil Knight and Donahue both suggested that this boycott was the underhanded work of competing company Reebok.
Nike would soon after appoint John Thompson Jr., who was a longtime consultant with the company, to become the first Black member of its board of directors.
[17] He was succeeded as president by Tom Clarke, a management team protege that Donahue had groomed as a prospective leader.
[21] In the late 1990s, Donahue was hired to oversee the ongoing legal strategy and public relations for members of the Demoulas family that had just been handed an unfavorable ruling by Massachusetts District Court Judge Maria Lopez in their legal battle with other members of their family for control of the multibillion-dollar Market Basket chain of supermarkets.
Donahue was accused of ignoring ethical red flags that other members of his legal team had attempted to raise.
On February 1, 2001, the United States Department of Justice closed its investigation into the matter without perusing indictments.
In early 2006, they presented oral argument of their appeal before the full Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers.
[28] At the age of 88, Donahue died on September 15, 2015, at his residence in Lowell, Massachusetts after a period of declining health.
[2] On September 24, after a well-attended funeral service at St. Patrick Church, Donahue was buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in Tewksbury, Massachusetts.