Donaghy, Pat
Peacemakers
Pat Donaghy emigrated from Carrickmore, County Tyrone to New York City in 1959. Eleven years later he co-founded Structure Tone, a general contracting and construction management firm that went on to become one of the most successful in the country.
Donaghy, who says that it was an accident of birth that he was born in a country where nationalists like him had no say in the government and many had no option but to leave, saw Sinn Fein's strategy as the way forward, and his dedicated support was vital in establishing the peace process in the early 1990s. He was one of the key players lobbying for a U.S. visa for Gerry Adams, and further lent his support to the establishment of Friends of Sinn Fein U.S., an organization supporting the party and its policies. When asked at a fundraising dinner why he supported Friends of Sinn Fein, Donaghy replied: "Because I am a peace hound - I believe in peace. A lot of people have been trying for years to support something, but this is the first time ever we could do it legitimately."
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