Kevin O'Donnell (June 9, 1925 – February 29, 2012) was the fourth director of Peace Corps, serving from July 1, 1971 to September 30, 1972.

[2] O'Donnell spent two semesters at Kenyon college before joining the US Navy Supply Corps during World War II.

[3] O'Donnell earned an MBA at Harvard University then worked for SIFCO, Atlas Alloys, and Booz, Allen & Hamilton.

[4] In January, 1966, O'Donnell saw a newspaper story about a local man serving as a Peace Corps administrator in Guatemala.

"[3] O'Donnell had lost his first wife, Margaret Ann(Peg) O ‘Donnell, March 20, 1965, following the birth of their sixth child and battled alcoholism and was looking for a chance to do something different.

[3] O'Donnell accepted an assignment from the Peace Corps to be Country Director for South Korea and to start the program.

[3] "By and large, people who applied to the Peace Corps had energy and ability, and my biggest job was to point them in the right direction and then get the hell out of the way," O'Donnell says.

Had Congressman Passman's efforts succeeded, the Peace Corps would have had to recall thousands of volunteers, breaking contracts and commitments with communities and countries around the world," said O'Donnell.

[3] In the end, the money to allow Peace Corps to continue its overseas programs came from an unlikely source - Richard Nixon.

[3] Most staff positions in the Peace Corps follow a five-year rule but O'Donnell, as a presidential appointee, agreed to a one-year extension and left six years to the day after he signed up.

[4] His Peace Corps experience overseas was good for business and helped SIFCO land contracts in South Korea, China and, "because I'm Irish", in Ireland.

[7] Kevin O'Donnell, as the first country director of Peace Corps Korea accepted the award on behalf of the volunteers.