Colonel Donohoe was born in Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He received a master's degree in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1958 and a master's degree in mathematics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1962.

In the Army Corps of Engineers from 1949 to 1972, he served in the Korean and Vietnam wars. He directed cleanup operations at Bikini Atoll in 1968 and served in Austria and Germany. He also taught math at West Point from 1963 to 1967.

Colonel Donohoe's military honors include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

After retiring, he taught math for a year in the early 1970s at O'Connell High School in Arlington County and then worked at the Atomic Energy Commission and the Department of Energy until the early 1980s.

He was a member of the Third Order Franciscans and St. Mary's Church in Annapolis, where he was a lector and Eucharistic minister and a member of Cursillo Fourth Day and the Right-to-Life Committee.

He enjoyed playing football and ice hockey, sailing, Catholic theology and spirituality, and math logic. He always read his Bible.

He lived in Annandale and Vienna, Virginia, before moving to Annapolis in the early 1980s.

Survivors include his wife of more than 50 years, Jane Middleton Donohoe of Annapolis; six children, Patrick J. Donohoe Jr. and Regina D. Spillane, both of Blacksburg, Virginia, Deborah A. Donohoe of Tacoma, Washington, Shannon T. Little of Santa Barbara, California, Mary D. McGarvey of Springfield and Elizabeth A. Donohoe of Annapolis; one sister, Rosanne T. Donohoe of Olney; 11 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Interment will be on July 21, 2008, 3 p.m. at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. Memorial contributions may be made to Catholic Medical Missions board, 10 West. 17th Street, New York, NY 1011-5765.