Alameda County
Biographies
AUGUSTIN
DONOVAN
Augustin Donovan was born in San
Francisco, California, on September 14, 1889, son of M. J. Donovan and
Elizabeth Donovan. He was educated at St. Ignatius College in San Francisco,
Santa Clara College and Stanford University Law School, being admitted to the
California bar in September, 1912.
He was associated with W. F.
Williamson in the general practice. Thereafter, served for nearly two years in
the United States Army, where he was commissioned in heavy artillery. He again
took up the general practice in 1919, in Oakland, where he has remained.
He is a member of the Athenian Nile
Club, Athens Athletic Club, American Legion, Elks Club, Knights of Columbus,
the Phi Delta Phi Law Fraternity and Chi Psi Fraternity.
He is a member of the Alameda County
Bar Association, of which he was president during 1930 and 1931 and again in
1931 and 1932, and at the end of the two-year term was elected the honorary
president of the Alameda County Bar Association. He was admitted to practice
before the Supreme Court of the United States on January 6, 1932.
He was a member of the first Local
Administrative Committee of the State Bar of California for the County of
Alameda for a year and one-half and was chairman of that committee for an
additional year and one-half; this from 1927 to 1930.
He is past president of the Stanford
East Bay Alumni Club, past grand knight of the Knights of Columbus, Oakland.
Has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Society of Alameda
County since 1930, and was president of the Legal Aid Society of Alameda County
1933-34 and 1934-35. A director of the Oakland Area Council
Boy Scouts of America from 1930 to 1948. A director of
the Oakland Chapter American Red Cross from 1934 to 1948. A member of
the executive committee of the Stanford Law Society from 1931 to 1938; vice
president, 1938 and 1939; president, 1939 and 1940.
He was second vice chairman of the
Conference of Bar Association Delegates of the State Bar of California 1935 and
1936; first vice chairman 1936 and 1937 and chairman 1937 and 1938.
A member of the
Board of Directors of Crippled Children’s Society of Alameda County since its
formation in 1930. A member of the Board of Directors
of the Affiliated Catholic Charities of Alameda County since its formation in
1934; president 1944-1945-1946.
A member of the
executive committee of the East Bay Religious Fellowship (Local Chapter of the
National Council of Christians and Jews) 1935 to 1945; president 1943 and 1944.
In November of 1951 he was elected a
member of the Board of Governors of the State Bar of California to serve as
such for a term of three years, representing District Number Three, which
consists of Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara Counties.
He is also a member of the American
Bar Association, the American Judicature Society and the Newman Club of
Stanford University.
Married Genevieve Morgan March 8,
1923. One child Joan, born March 11, 1928, now married and is Mrs. Donald M. Zappettini of Oakland, California.
Residence: 770 Rosemont Road,
Oakland, California.
His Offices are at 1404 Bank of
America Building, Oakland, California.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: “Eminent Californians 1953”,
by Lee E. Johnson & C. W. Taylor. Page 527, C. W. Taylor
Publ., Palo Alto, California, 1953.
© 2014 Cecelia M. Setty.
BACK TO GOLDEN
NUGGET LIBRARY'S ALAMEDA DATABASES