Member Spotlight – Rick Donahue

Getting to Know Rick Donahue

Chapter 67 would like to welcome back J. Richard (Rick) Donahue. While not new to IRWA (he joined in 1994), Rick has recently transferred back to our Chapter after being an active member in Chapter 1 for the past several years. Rick is currently the Senior Managing Director with the Integra Realty Resources Orange County office. He has been appraising in Southern California since 1977, specializing in valuation and consulting services related to public agency and right-of-way clients and for major, investment grade commercial properties and special purposes properties.

Rick was born and raised in California but spent some time in the Gulf of Mexico in his younger years where he developed a taste for seafood and Cajun/Creole food. He graduated from California Polytechnic University, Pomona with a Bachelor of Arts in History. Rick and his wife, Rene, live in Laguna Niguel and have been married for 35 years. They have two kids, a loving grand-dog and are expecting their first grandbaby in April, at which time whatever his favorite things to do will change to enjoying his new grandbaby! According to Rick, he has two proudest accomplishments: one lives in San Diego and the other is working on her doctorate at UVA.

Rick loves good ol’ fashion rock and roll and anything classical. His hobbies include reading, carving divots in fairway grass and traveling with his wife to see the great sights of the American West. His most recent “vacation” was moving his daughter to Virginia to go back to school; his last “fun” vacation was a road trip to Sedona and Page, Arizona and Durango, Colorado. His most important unrealized goal is to be the best person he can be at work and at home and admires those who display honesty, respect and passion in people. His two favorite quotes come from Ronald Reagan: “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit” and “Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly and leave the rest to God.”

When asked why Rick is involved in the IRWA, his response was: ”After many years working on the institutional side of appraisal work, I wanted to get back to doing right-of-way work that I did a little of when I was a Partner at Schmitz-Riach Associates. It makes me a better appraiser because the reports are read and questioned for content rather than “You forgot an apostrophe in ‘its’ on page 56”. Obviously, IRWA is most the significant professional organization in the right-of-way arena and the obvious choice for education, shared insights, right-of-way knowledge and professional relationships. I look forward to returning to Chapter 67 and being a part the chapter relationships with other right-of-way friends and professionals.”

And …one of the highly pertinent bits of information that Rick wants to make sure everyone knows about is, that despite the question once posed to him by a client who shall remain nameless, Kevin Donahue is NOT his son.