Donnelly, Thomas

Passed: 1980-04-12

Age: 75

Source:

Death Notice:

Obituary Date: 1980-04-23

Information:       Memorial services were held April 15, for Thomas C. Donnelly, long-time  head of New Mexico Highlands University.  Donnelley died April 12 at the age of 75.  He was born at Rockcastle, West Virginia, April 1, 1905.  When he became president of Highlands in 1952, the school at Las Vegas had 28 buildings and an enrollment of 500.  When he retired in 1970, the campus had grown to 40 buildings with an enrollment of 2,400.  Donnelly was graduated from Marshall University in 1926 and received his masters and doctoral degrees from New York University.  Donnelly went to New Mexico in 1931, joining the faculty at New Mexico Western University.  He moved to the University of New Mexico in 1935.  During World War II, he was in Washington as deputy administrator of the Office of Price Administration.  His work at Highlands was recognized when the Marshall University campus library was named the Thomas C. Donnelly Library.  Marshall University awarded him an honorary doctorate in recognition of his writings in Political Science.  He and his wife, Dorothea, privately published his autobiography, “I Came Down From the Hills”, a chronicle of his childhood and early youth in West Virginia.  Interment was in Roswell, N.M.  Survivors include his wife, the former Dorothea Berry of Dexter; a son, District Judge Thomas A. Donnelly of Santa Fe; two grandchildren, Patrick Donnelly and Sarah Donnelly.