Peter F. Donnelly (October 6, 1938 – March 28, 2009) was an American patron of the arts. He was a former vice-chairman of Americans for the Arts, a co-founder of the Seattle Arts Commission and a pivotal figure in the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

artistic community for more than 45 years. Born in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

, Donnelly graduated from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

and moved to Seattle in 1964 as a Ford Foundation management fellow to work with the fledgling

Seattle Repertory Theatre Seattle Repertory Theatre (familiarly known as "The Rep") is a major regional theatre located in Seattle, Washington, at the Seattle Center. It is a member of Theatre Puget Sound Dallas Theater Center The Dallas Theater Center is a major regional theater in Dallas, Texas, United States. It produces classic, contemporary and new plays and was the 2017 Tony Award recipient for Best Regional Theater. Dallas Theater Center produces its original w ...

, returning to Seattle in 1989 to at the request of local business leaders to head the Seattle Corporate Council for the Arts, which later became ArtsFund, where he served as president and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

until retiring in 2005. In honor of his retirement, the ArtsFund created the Peter F. Donnelly Merit Fund for Arts Endowments. Donnelly is credited with being instrumental in the building of the Seattle Repertory Theatre's Bagley Wright Theater and the development of the Building for the Arts program, a primary funding source for Seattle's Benaroya Hall,

Intiman Theater Intiman Theatre Festival in Seattle, Washington, was founded in 1972 as a resident theatre by Margaret "Megs" Booker, who named it for August Strindberg's Stockholm theater.

, Seattle Children's Theatre, as well as 150 other arts facilities. In 2001 the

Seattle Public Library The Seattle Public Library (SPL) is the public library system serving the city of Seattle, Washington. Efforts to start a Seattle library had commenced as early as 1868, with the system eventually being established by the city in 1890. The syste ...

honored Donnelly by naming one of their five major collections as The Peter F. Donnelly Art and Literature Collection. Donnelly also served on the board of directors for the

Frye Art Museum The Frye Art Museum is a modern and contemporary art museum located in the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1952 to house the collection of Charles and Emma Frye and has since grown to include rotating temporary ex ...

, the

5th Avenue Theatre The 5th Avenue Theatre is a landmark theatre located in Seattle's Skinner Building, in the U.S. state of Washington. It has hosted a variety of theatre productions and motion pictures since it opened in 1926. The building and land are owned b ...

, the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

School of Drama Advisory Committee and Classic KING-FM Radio Station.

Death

Donnelly died on March 28, 2009, a week after being diagnosed with advanced

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

and is survived by his partner, David Farrar, of Seattle as well as two sisters.

Awards

National Coalition of United Arts Fund's Michael Newton Award – 1995 2005 Mayor's Arts Award: Tour de Force

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donnelly, Peter 1938 births 2009 deaths American theatre managers and producers American theatre directors Boston University alumni Deaths from pancreatic cancer LGBT people from Massachusetts People from Lynn, Massachusetts Businesspeople from Seattle 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American LGBT people 21st-century American LGBT people