F. Joseph Donohue

F. Joseph "Jiggs" Donohue (January 15, 1900 – April 4, 1978) was a Washington, DC politician who served as the 19th President of the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia, from 1952 to 1953. He was also a lawyer who tried cases before the Supreme Court, a friend of every president from Woodrow Wilson to Jimmy Carter and soldier who served in two wars. He got the nickname "Jiggs" from Chicago White Sox first baseman Jiggs Donahue. He is the only Catholic to serve as Chief Executive of the District of Columbia.

Early life Donohue was born in Lynn, MA in 1900 and graduated from the Classical High School there. His mother was Gertrude Powers Donohue and his father, James Joseph Donohue, was an Irish immigrant. His two siblings, James and Gertrude, died in 1915. He served in the Army as a private for six months during World War I and then moved to Washington, DC to go to college. He graduated from Catholic University, where he was a star of the track team and played football and basketball, in 1922 and from law school there three year later. The year after he graduated he was a volunteer track coach at Catholic. He was one of the original inductees in the Catholic University Athletic Hall of Fame. From 1922 to 1930 he was an instructor of economics and banking at both Catholic University and the American Institute of Banking and from 1936 to 1940 he taught law at Columbus University, now part of Catholic University and for a time at the Army War College. During this time he revised the textbook, "Standard Banking," for the American Bankers Association and He was a director of the First National Bank of Washington. In 1949, he married Martha Vey Apperson, the sister-in-law of his commanding officer during World War II, Lt. Gen. Ira C. Eaker.

He commanded the National Capitol Wing of the Civil Air Patrol from 1956 to 1961.

In later life, Donohue returned to law practice representing banks before the federal reserve and argued cases before the Supreme Court and was California Lieutenant Governor Ed Reinecke's lawyer during his perjury trial.

On April 4, 1978, he died of a heart attack at George Washington University Hospital and was later buried in Arlington National Cemetery.