Honoring Chuck Donofrio

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HAROLD “CHUCK” DONOFRIO

9/3/55 – 11/26/17

Harold Charles “Chuck” Donofrio, Jr., a well-known Baltimore advertising executive who embraced the internet and agency integration, died Sunday, November 26, 2017, following a long illness. He was 62.

Donofrio led the Baltimore agency Carton Donofrio Partners, Inc., formerly known as Richardson, Myers and Donofrio, an integrated marketing communications firm founded by his father, Hal Donofrio. But his leadership was cut short after a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s.

While leading the agency, Donofrio became known for his willingness to adapt and buck tradition. In the early 1990s, Richardson, Myers and Donofrio became one of the first agencies in the mid-Atlantic to embrace the internet.  He also moved to make his agency more integrated, combining departments to work for clients, rather than keeping sections like creative and accounts separate. At Richardson, Myers and Donofrio, public relations managers worked side-by-side with creative and account managers.  The agency’s client list included several of Baltimore’s largest institutions, including T. Rowe Price, BGE, Sylvan Learning Centers, BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, the University of Maryland, Black & Decker, Visit Baltimore and the National Aquarium.  But Donofrio’s legacy might be what he meant to his employees as a leader and a mentor.  He was not driven by his ego or greed, he was driven by intellectual curiosity and substance, which is very rare these days. That type of leadership is what attracted so many people to come to be a part of his team.

Donofrio was CEO of the agency for 17 years before stepping down in 2010 due to his ongoing battle with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Three years later, the firm shuttered, in part due to Donofrio’s absence.

While dealing with his diagnosis, Donofrio blogged about his experiences. It allowed him to indulge one of his preferred activities, poetry. He was a published poet, and his blog took on a poetic tone at times.  Donofrio was also an avid outdoorsman and birder. He was known for carrying his binoculars with him everywhere, and often a pair of hiking boots as well. He allowed these other aspects of his personality to intermingle with his professional life, to a point where he encouraged the blurring of those lines.

One of the most important lessons that Chuck taught is allowing the line between your personal life and your professional life to blur. It seemed impossible to tell where that line was for Chuck.

One of his proudest moments was bringing the National Aquarium on as a client, an area where he could combine his love of the outdoors and his work.

The pitch also demonstrated who Donofrio was as a leader. After hearing that his team had won the aquarium’s business, he wanted to let all the team members know before he informed the entire agency. Things like that are what made him the kind of person you want to work for, because I felt appreciated.

He also brought to the office the atmosphere not of the egoist advertising executive but more of the curious college professor. He was driven by intellectual curiosity and he loved work that involved complexity and problem-solving.

For those that really knew him, that’s what made his diagnosis 13 years ago so tragic. For someone who was always intellectually curious and valued his mind over anything, to have to face early-onset Alzheimer’s at such a young age was really very tragic.

Donofrio is survived by his wife, Deb, and his three daughters.

Check out his blog at “Early Onset Alzheimer’s Adventure.”

His final post, on April 21, 2011, was an ode to the outdoors and to life:

Free at last

As my spiritual guide, the Dr. Martin Luther King, has so profoundly said: Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty, I'm free at last. Burst from the chains that have bound me, I look around at this marvel of creation and my heart swells with awe. Put another way, Spring is sprung, and the peepers are peeping, returning song birds are singing, the dogwood blossoms are open and ready for love. Today, the first Hummingbird arrived, just as the feeders went up, and the nectar is now officially flowing. The dogs of winter have been washed in the new water of mud and exuberance. The red buds have done it again, and the floods have been quelled for now. The wood-peckers are pounding away on the soft wood of rotten cavities, making way for eggs and the season of avian romance is coming close. Can the warblers be far behind?




Honoring Luciana Santori Pope

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Born in Cellino Attanasio, Teramo, Italy, Luciana worked as a midwife and nurse in Naples, Italy, where she met her late husband, a US Navy officer, Master Chief Roger R. Pope Sr., married him, and had their first child. The family moved to the US in 1955 and she became a US citizen in 1957.

She is survived by her daughters Laura Pope Smith (Craig) and Sandra Pope, and her son Roger Pope, Jr.  Her grandchildren, Michelle Dekkers, Jason Pope, Jessica Pope, Shauna Smith, Jennifer Robinson, Jared Robinson and Jager Robinson survive her. Her great grandchildren Jessica Renee and Kevin Duane Salas also survive her.

Her legacy of courage has been documented in the movie "My Italian Secret: The Forgotten Heroes." Her town of Cellino was part of a secret network during World War II hiding Jews. She bore a scar on her right cheek from shrapnel that hit her while she was running between buildings during a raid by Nazi soldiers looking for Jews

Honoring Chuck Gilmore

Gilmore, Charles R. "Chuck"
1942 - 2019
Charles "Chuck" Roy Gilmore, 76, of Key West, Florida and Columbus, Ohio, passed away on January 3, 2019 in Miami, Florida following a tragic accident which resulted in a brain injury that he was unable to overcome. Chuck attended Columbus Acquinas High School and graduated from Otterbein University, Westerville, Ohio in 1965 majoring in Economics. He was a second generation Dairy Queen Territory Operator, franchising Dairy Queen Stores in Franklin County, Ohio and expanding the family business into more than 30 additional counties throughout Ohio. Chuck was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather. He was a friend to all who knew him. He had a great sense of humor, was kind and exceptionally generous. He loved to bring others along on his many journeys and adventures. Chuck loved traveling the world, visiting more than 100 countries in his lifetime, instilling a love for travel in his children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren. Childhood summers at Seneca Lake led to a love of being on the water, from Dale Hallow Lake to Apple Valley Lake to residing in Key West. He became a master diver, a licensed boat captain and was a former member of the Key West Yacht Club. He was an accomplished square and ballroom dancer, lover of motion pictures, and VERY proud Ohio State Buckeye fan. He was a wonderful story teller and mentored many people. Chuck's true passion was golf and he played every day that he could. He was a member of the Key West Golf Club and enjoyed riding his scooter around his beloved Key West the Conch Republic.He was preceded in death by his parents Roy E. Gilmore and Eileen (Girlie) Mulhern Gilmore, originally from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Roy and Eileen moved to Ohio to begin the Gilmore Dairy Queen legacy. 

Chuck was a beloved member of our Key West Community who loved golf, bicycling, an enjoyable night out with good friends and was an champion ringmaster for the circus that is Key West. His smile was contagious. He loved Ohio State Football and is still cheering the team on wherever he is now! We all miss him very much. ~ Alan Teitelbaum

Chuck, We were so pleased to have known you. You made a difference ~Al & Carol Metty

Chuck has been honored by the following people:

Pam Mackenzie, Stephanie Skylar, Mark & Mindy Shilleci, Kathleen Anderson, Janice Nicowski, Susan Mitchell, Patty & Scott Sickel, Alan Teitelbaum, Clare Keller, Barbara Scerbo, Maxine Makover, Al & Carol Metty, Joan Shea & Robert Gold, Patricia Coolidge-Bollinger, Teofilo Chapa, Mary Hesse, Norma Gilmore, Mike & Ellen Caron, Sherri MacKenzie-Ritchie, Mary Coan, Jacob Beal, Dennis & Mindy Holbert

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Honoring Lee Clyne

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Lee Clyne, 92, passed away Monday, November 19, 2018.  Lee was born, on a farm, in Belview, Minnesota, July 27, 1926, the middle of three children. From her birth to her death she always provided a sunny disposition and helping hand to those around her. 

After graduating from high school, she attended the Augsburg College, achieving a degree in Education and then earning her Masters from Western Michigan University. Lee pursued opportunities in education, first in North Dakota, then Quincy, MI and finally in Coldwater, MI. She taught 4th grade for 29 years, loving every minute.  Her favorite causes were the prevention of child abuse and selecting talented high school students for scholarships. After retirement, Lee split her time between Coldwater and Key West, FL, where she made many friends. 

Lee loved to go out for dinner and a margarita. She was an avid reader, enjoyed crossword puzzles, playing bingo, attending movies, plays and concerts. Lee touched many lives and will always be remembered as a bright, shining, ray of light. We miss her.

Honoring Jason Shields

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Jason Yarrow Shields passed away on Wednesday, May 27th. 

A Gainesville, 4th generation Floridian - born on the Solstice - water child, you always knew where he was, hearing him joyously laughing at any moment, or seen climbing the giant live oaks, swaying and singing in the branches, or swimming in the Florida springs and rivers, and Atlantic Ocean. His love for being on the water was a constant.

He attended the Dayspring Waldorf School, Gainesville, FL, before moving to the Green Meadow Waldorf School, Chestnut Ridge, NY, Class of 1994, where he was athletic, excelling in baseball, basketball, and soccer, played the trombone, and performed in school theater productions. He was always fun and a joy to be with, a sensitive and soulful, caring person, and his presence will continue on in the lives of those many hearts he touched.

He lived and worked in Key West, managing the Java Lounge, and also became an accomplished and skilled film projectionist, at the Tropic Cinema, knowledgeable in cinema and film history. His great heart continues to circulate love in the world.