Paul Vincent Donovan

Born in Bernard, Iowa, Donovan was ordained a Catholic priest for the Diocese of Lansing (where he had moved with his parents, attending St. Mary's Cathedral High School) on May 20, 1950. His seminary studies had been at St. Joseph Seminary (in Grand Rapids, Michigan), St. Gregory Seminary (in Cincinnati, Ohio), and Mount St. Mary Seminary (in Norwood, Ohio). On June 15, 1971, Pope Paul VI named him the first bishop of the newly created Diocese of Kalamazoo, Michigan. He was consecrated on July 21, 1971 by Cardinal John Francis Dearden of Detroit. The co-consecrators were Bishops Alexander M. Zaleski of Lansing and Michael Joseph Green of Reno.[1] He choose as his episcopal motto: "To Serve Rather Than Be Served."[2] He was the diocesan bishop in Kalamazoo for 23 years, retiring in 1994 for health reasons.

Bishop Donovan, aged 86, was found dead on Thursday, April 27, 2011, outside of his vehicle following a minor accident in Wayland Township. According to the Kalamazoo Gazette, his car had, in darkness, blundered into a shallow pond. He managed to extricate himself from the car, and to reach a concrete pad some yards away, where he evidently sustained a heart attack. Foul play was not suspected. Allen Henry Vigneron, the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Province of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, Michigan, was the principal celebrant at the Wednesday, May 4, 2011 Funeral Mass in the Diocese of Kalamazoo's St. Augustine Cathedral. Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, was the homilist. The Funeral Mass was also attended by Archbishop Vigneron's immediate predecessor, Adam Joseph Cardinal Maida, the retired Cardinal Archbishop of Detroit. Burial followed at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Kalamazoo.