In this capacity, he oversaw all of the company's magazine publications, including Time, Life, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, Money, and People.

Hand-picked by founder Henry Luce, Donovan redirected the magazine from its historically conservative orientation to a more objective editorial stance, particularly with respect to the Vietnam War.

A member of Delta Upsilon, he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Minnesota in 1934.

[5] Donovan initially aspired to be an academic and was offered a $600 graduate assistantship from Harvard University after leaving Oxford.

Donovan wrote several books, including a memoir, Roosevelt to Reagan: A Reporter's Encounters with Nine Presidents, published in 1985 by Harper & Row.