Born on Valentine's Day in 1936 in Cork, Ireland, to parents Patrick Joseph and Mary Imelda (née O'Donnell).
Drawing on his expertise, he co-authored a book (with Chandra Kudsia) titled Microwave Filters for Communications Systems.
Under Val's leadership COM DEV continued to thrive, and in 1996 became a publicly listed company (symbol CDV on the Toronto Stock Exchange).
From 1997 to 2003, O'Donovan was Chancellor at the University of Waterloo, where he relished giving degrees to many thousands of students, to each of whom he had something special to say.
In 1998, O'Donovan and Sheila started a charitable foundation to establish a residential hospice in Waterloo Region for terminally ill cancer patients.