Chester John "Don" Donnally Jr.'s Obituary
Chester John “Don” Donnally, Jr. passed away at his home on May 15, 2022. Donnally is remembered as a longtime supporter of SMU, a leader in the financial services industry for more than four decades and a nationally recognized member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity, which he served through active fundraising and mentorship efforts for over 50 years. His contributions and dedication to SAE led to the construction and ongoing success of the SAE House on SMU’s campus.
His long-established career in the finance industry began early in Donnally’s life, when he became interested in financial markets and built his own equities portfolio while still a high school student. Donnally graduated from high school at St. Mark’s School of Texas, where he played on the basketball team before going on to play for SMU as a member of the Colts men’s basketball team in 1964. He graduated from SMU with a finance degree in 1967 and an MBA in 1968. After graduating from SMU, he began his career at Smith Barney, where he formed The Donnally Greenman Group with David Greenman. He served as a senior vice president of the group, which joined UBS Financial Services in 2015, where he was a senior vice president of wealth management and a senior portfolio manager. Donnally was recognized regularly by American financial newspaper Barron’s as being among the Top Financial Advisors in the industry.
Donnally was preceded in death by his father, Chester John Donnally, Sr., and his mother, Evelyn Lee Donnally. He is survived by wife Carol Grader Donnally, and children Josephine Lee Donnally; Christina Donnally Emerson (Cory); Dr. Chester John Donnally, III (Kristen Mayo); and Caroline Donnally van der Merwe (Nico). He is lovingly adored by his grandchildren: Everly Elizabeth Emerson; Isabelle Sage Emerson; Chester John Donnally, IV “Jack”; and James Hampton Donnally.
A visitation for Donnally will be held on Sunday, May 22, 4:30 –6:30 p.m. at Restland Funeral Home and Cemetery, 13005 Greenville Ave., in Dallas. For more information, visit restlandfuneralhome.com.
Funeral services will be held on Monday, May 23, at 1 p.m. at Highland Park United Methodist Church, 3300 Mockingbird Lane in Dallas, followed by a reception in the Martha Proctor Mack Grand Ballroom on the SMU campus. A livestream of the service will be available at online.brushfire.com/hpumc/funeral.
For those who would like to honor Donnally in lieu of flowers with a gift to SMU, memorials can be made to the Don Donnally Endowed Scholarship Fund at smu.edu/giving/donnally or mailed to:
Don Donnally Endowment at SMU
SMU Office of Development
PO Box 750402
Dallas, TX 75275-0402
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