William John Donnelly Sr.

May 27th 1931 - December 29th 2023

William "Spike" Donnelly, 92, of Brentwood, CA, passed away Friday December 29th 2023 after a 3 year battle with cancer.

Born May 27th 1931 in Cleveland, Ohio to James Gordon and Catherine Rita Donnelly, Spike moved to California as a teenager. There, he graduated from Pittsburg High School in 1949.

Spike enlisted in the U.S. Navy on January 19th, 1950 where he served as a Communications Technician Specialist during the Korean War.

He married his best friend, Philomena "Fannie" Jean on December 2nd 1950 and they were married 56 years before her passing in 2007.

Making a name for himself in the information technology world, he secured a position with IBM in 1955. He was coined Dr. DASD and began traveling the country and other places of the world putting on conferences helping to teach others about Direct Access Storage Devices. He was lucky enough to share some of these travel experiences with his wife, children and grandchildren.

In the 1970s, while also working for IBM, he began teaching at San Jose State University, alongside taking classes, where he went on to get his M.B.A. in Marketing. Shortly after he took a Visiting Professor position where he taught Economics and Business at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA in the 1980s. He then returned to California where he continued work for IBM until retiring in 1995 and working as a contractor for them until 1999.

When he wasn't working or traveling for conferences, you could most likely find him at the golf course. Which also included trips with his grandkids to the driving range at the local course or participating as a coach during the United States Blind Golfing Association tournaments.

You could also bet he would be at the nearest pool table sinking shot after shot leaving no hope for his opponents.

He loved to fish and would plan trips to places like Martin's Beach and Puerto Vallarta with family, friends and colleagues on a regular basis.

He was never without a video camera in his hand capturing special events in his kids lives or filming his grandkids while directing a news skit or propositioning a "double dog dare" like his famous Shock Test!

He loved to tell a good (or bad) joke and was a real prankster. He took pride in finding mischievous ways to attend events such as the Ryder Cup, the Super Bowl, the Olympics and the World Series, often without a ticket in hand.

Spike is survived by his 6 children, William Donnelly, Jr., Catherine (Richard) Robinson, Colleen Burgio, Kelly (Rick) May, Robert Donnelly and John (Karen) Donnelly, along with his 13 Grandchildren, 19 Great Grandchildren and 3 Great Great Grandchildren.

He is preceded in death by his wife, Fannie Donnelly, his parents, Catherine and Gordon Donnelly and his Son-in-law, Charles Burgio, III.

A Rosary will be held on Tuesday January 30th at 7pm with a Mass service following on Wednesday January 31st at 11am. Both services will be held at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church located at 500 Fairview Ave. Brentwood, CA. 94513.