Funeral services were held Monday for electrician/gaffer Peter Donoghue, a 30-year member of Local 476 and cited by Mark Hogan, the local’s business manager, as “one of the best union men I’ve ever known.”
Mr. Donoughue died April 1 of a heart attack after he had been swiming at the Lake View YMCA He would have been 58 years old on April 16.
Filmmaker Dave Carlson called his friend and collaborator as having had “a long history in the Chicago feature film community as an electrician and gaffer, taught lighting at Columbia College, and was always willing to contribute his time and energy to my independent movies.
“Peter would lend a hand with anything. I remember when I moved into a house across the street from his in Roscoe Village, he came over and started hauling my boxes up and down the stairs without me even asking. He was just that kind of a guy. A great neighbor. A great Chicagoan.”
Mr. Donoghue was like “a classic Chicagoan” in his dedication to finding ways to improve it, noted DP Sid Lubitch, one of his friends and colleagues.
Led efforts to improve neighborhoods
A resident of Roscoe Village, Mr. Donaghue was president of the Lake View Citizens Council and led efforts to renovate parks and turn an abandoned swimming pool into a playground.
His vision for a better neighborhood and ways to involve the community led Mr. Donoghue to run for 32nd Ward alderman in 1998.
“He was so smart and positive and such a delight to work with,” said Shirley Kelly, former local SAG president, who had worked on Mr. Donoghue’s aldermanic campaign. “Peter was respected for his work ethic in politics and films.”
“When I was shooting my documentary, ?Chicago Filmmakers on the Chicago River,'” recalled Carlson, “one of my cameramen was knocked off the ship (by the low hanging Amtrak bridge). Peter helped save him from drowning and pulled him back into the boat.
“It was a very scary situation in the middle of the night on the river, but Peter was able to pluck this guy right out of the water.”
Mr. Donoghue also was Carlson’s gaffer on his short film, “Sailorman” and “really helped out the production by putting his entire Columbia College lighting class to work as grips.
He was always into bringing the film community together, whether the project was feature, indie or student filmmaking.”
Mr. Donoghue “was beloved by everyone, and wasnever shy in pointing out to union leadership what he felt were inadequacies,” said Hogan. “He made sure that no employer ever infringed on a union member’s rights.”
Mr. Donoghue grew up in Sauganash and the North Shore, attending New Trier high school and what is now Minnesota State University.
Survivors include his two sons, Matthew and Jack, his mother Mary Helen , brothers John, Thomas and William, sister Mary Helen Cutler and former wife Joan Merlo.
Donations can be made in Mr. Donoghue’s name to the Salvation Army, 5040 N. Pulaski, Chicago 60640.
