Dave Donnelly, Star-Bulletin columnist, dead at 66
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Dave Donnelly, longtime Honolulu columnist, actor, director and radio and TV personality died Saturday at The Queen's Medical Center. He was 66.
Advertiser library photo • Jan. 9, 1997
People in their 40s may remember him as Mr. Checkers on the TV children's show, "Checkers and Pogo."
Dave Donnelly played the part of Gardner Church in the 1997 production of "Painting Churches."
Donnelly acted in or directed a number of plays over the years. He worked as a radio disc jockey at KPOI, and was a columnist at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin from 1968 until his death.
"He was a rare guy," said John McDermott, columnist for Pacific Business News who knew Donnelly for nearly 40 years. "He was a character — and we need characters in this town. He was ebullient, gushy — a little bit always on stage, which was his first love."
Donnelly recently directed "The Weir," at the Yellow Brick Studio. He was a doorman and bookie in "The 1940s Radio Hour" in 1999 and played Gardner Church in "Painting Churches" in 1997.
He had at least a dozen parts in the "Hawaii 5-0" television series.
"I'll miss seeing his column," McDermott said. "I'll miss seeing him."
"He was hard working," said Eddie Sherman, a columnist for MidWeek who worked for 20 years as a columnist at The Honolulu Advertiser, competing against Donnelly the last five. "He respected his craft. Being a columnist is a different animal from the average journalist. You're expected to mingle in every facet of the community, from the eggheads at the university to the drunks on Hotel Street.
"He liked what he was doing, and if you like what you are doing, it shows."
"He loved breaking news in his column," said recently retired Star-Bulletin reporter Russ Lynch. "He would try to beat us — the reporters. He loved doing that. I was on the business page, and he loved to beat me."
Donnelly was gregarious and enjoyed debating.
"He'd give anybody a good argument over anything," Lynch said.
A native of Keokuk, Iowa, Donnelly came to Hawai'i with the military. When he got out of the Navy in 1961, he started working at radio station KPOI, where he became a disc jockey and one of the original "Poi Boys" who helped popularize rock 'n' roll music in Hawai'i.
Donnelly had a brush with death when he underwent two liver operations in 1994. A month later, he returned to writing his column.
He checked into Queen's Saturday morning and was in intensive care most of the day. He died Saturday night.
Survivors include his son, Brendan, and his former wife, public-relations executive Sheila Donnelly.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
