At 9:15 PM on August 17, 2017, Robert E. Donaghy, Sr. was granted his wish, while in the presence of his beloved family , he died as he lived, with great dignity and peace in his home in Perkasie. He was 81. Or as he would say, “a 21 year old, with 60 years of experience”.

Robert is survived by his beloved wife of 57 years, Isabella McLernon Donaghy.

Born in Philadelphia, he was the son of the late Harry Bartholomew and Kathryn Kelly Donaghy and brother of the late Henry Donaghy, Catherine Tobin and Therese Riley.

Robert is also survived by his six loving children, Robert E. Donaghy, Jr. and his wife Sharon, John Donaghy and his wife Nancy, Kevin Donaghy and his wife Supawadee, Marykathryn McKelvey and her husband Sean, Gerard Donaghy and his wife Lori, and Megan Trinsey and her husband Stan. Robert will be missed and remembered by his 11 grandchildren – Denise, Eric, Patrick, Seamus, Kellyann, Ian, Connor, Kathryn, Gavin, Colette and Brayden as well as 3 great grandchildren. Survived by his sister Maryhelen Franks and brothers Gerard Donaghy and Joseph Donaghy. An Electronic Physics Engineer by training was Program Manager for Sonex of Phila. Bob was key in developing life support systems for the Apollo moon suit and including life support telemetry systems, pioneering miniaturization methods, ahead of its time. The design worked flawlessly allowing the astronauts to be safe while in space. He never bragged, but has many letters from NASA and Neil Armstrong thanking him for the design and reliability, key to a safe mission. 

Relatives and friends are invited to his visitation on Friday, August 25 from 6-8 PM at Joseph A. Fluehr III Funeral Home 241 East Butler Ave. (at Sandy Ridge Rd.) New Britain, Pa. 18901, as well as Saturday morning August 26 from 8:30am-10:15 at St. Jude Church, 321 West Butler Ave Chalfont, Pa. 18914 followed by his Funeral Mass at 10:30. His interment, with military honors, will follow at St. John Neumann Cemetery, 3797 County Line Rd, Chalfont, PA 18914

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Robert’s name may be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, PO Box 5014 Hagerstown, MD 21741-5014.