Gertrude Walton Donahey

Gertrude Walton Donahey
41st Ohio State Treasurer
In office January 11, 1971 – January 10, 1983
Preceded by	John D. Herbert
Succeeded by	Mary Ellen Withrow
Personal details
Born	Gertrude Walton (1908-08-04)August 4, 1908 Tuscarawas County, Ohio
Died	Bexley, Ohio
Resting place	East Avenue Cemetery, New Philadelphia, Ohio
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	John W. Donahey

Gertrude Walton Donahey (August 4, 1908 – July 11, 2004) was an American politician of the Democratic party who served as Ohio State Treasurer from 1971 to 1983.

Biography

Donahey was born in Goshen Township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio. She earned her bachelor’s at Mann’s Business College in Columbus, Ohio and went to work at the Office of the Ohio Adjutant General's Business and Finance Division. She was married to John W. Donahey, served for a time as Lieutenant Governor of Ohio. Her father-in-law, A. Victor Donahey, was a Governor of Ohio and a member of the United States Senate.

She was chosen as a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1964 and 1968 and represented Ohio on the Party’s platform and resolution committee. She was hired in 1964 by U.S. Senator Stephen M. Young as his executive assistant. She ran in the Democratic presidential primary in 1976 as a “favorite daughter.” She wasn’t a serious candidate, but rather a placeholder for the party to control delegate votes in Ohio.

In 1970, Donahey was the first woman to be elected to a statewide executive office in Ohio, and second to Ohio Supreme Court judge Florence Ellinwood Allen, as Ohio State Treasurer. She held the position until 1983 in light of an embezzlement scandal which took $1.3 million from her office. Head cashier, Elizabeth Jane Boerger and her private business associate, Robert W. Yeazell, were indicted for the embezzlement on August 12, 1982.

She died in Bexley, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, aged 95.

References

• Gertrude Walton Donahey at Find a Grave