Tim Donovan, longtime executive director of Canalway Partners, died Wednesday. He was 74.
Canalway Partners is the nonprofit organization dedicated to developing the Ohio & Erie Canalway, which Congress made a National Heritage Area during Donovan’s 30-year stretch as executive director. Donovan’s key success was the completion of the Towpath Trail, a 100-mile stretch with trailheads from Downtown Cleveland to New Philadelphia.
“The Cleveland portion of the trail in Cleveland from Harvard Avenue North, I kind of unofficially have referred to it as the Donovan Trail, because it never would have happened without him,” said Tom Yablonsky, one of the founders of Canalway Partners.
Yablonsky and Donovan remained good friends well after Donovan’s 2020 retirement. Yablonsky said he remembers Donovan battling skeptics of the trail's completion in the 1990s.
“It was called the most difficult trail in America, the towpath through Cleveland, through an industrial part of the community,” Yablonsky said. “He’s very philanthropic from a modest means and a visionary, creative beyond belief, great public speaker, passionate.”
Donovan spearheaded several other programs, including “Take a Hike,” a series of free guided tours of Cleveland’s historical landmarks, “RiverSweep,” an annual one-day litter cleanup and “Cleveland History Days,” an annual celebration of Cleveland’s history.
“We are saddened to lose Tim Donovan. His commitment to Canalway Partners and his enthusiasm for sharing Cleveland’s history was unmatched. As an organization, Canalway continues to benefit from the legacy of Tim’s determination,” said Mera Cardenas, current executive director of Canalway Partners.
Donovan was a filmmaker by trade. He worked as a speechwriter for former Cleveland Mayor George Voinovich before joining Canalway Partners. Donovan produced a video for Voinovich’s 50th birthday celebration.
Yablonsky shared many stories of watching Cleveland sports with Donovan, who graduated from St. Ignatius High School and Cleveland State University, where he was a basketball season ticket holder. He most recently lived in the Hingetown area of Cleveland’s West Side Ohio City neighborhood.
“The world would be a very different place if everybody was as generous as Tim,” Yablonsky said.
Like Yablonsky, Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne said he remembers Donovan as a visionary in Cleveland.
“He lived and breathed Cleveland,” Ronayne said. “We owe a debt of gratitude to Tim for his vision, and for leaving us the legacy of the Towpath Trail.”
