Donahue (Robert J.) is born in South Boston.

Robert Donahue grows up up at 727 N Street, attends Boston College High School and English High School and enlists in the U.S. Army. He serves in Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East and Germany, Japan, at the Pentagon and NATO headquarters in Brussels. Donahue retires in 1990 as a lieutenant general, the highest military rank ever achieved by a native of South Boston.