Donel O’Brien III ’80

Donel O’Brien III ’80 passed away on November 24, 2022, after courageously battling a progressive neurological illness. Don was the eldest child and only son of Donel and Katharine O’Brien and moved with them to New Canaan, Connecticut, in 1959. He was educated at the New Canaan School and Hotchkiss and graduated from Dartmouth and the NYU Stern School of Business. After college he began his career in real estate, joining the Trammel Crow Co. Throughout his career he worked in brokerage, consulting, and asset management at Cushman Wakefield, CBRE, and Heitman Properties, where he was a member of the firm’s acquisition and disposition team. He cofounded CIT’s commercial real estate group, was executive vice president of Collins Enterprises, and founder of Entry Point Capital. An avid conservationist, Don supported many environmental organizations. He served as a board member and chairman of the National Wildlife Association, helping to raise its endowment and public awarness. He was also an outdoorsman with special interests in upland bird and wild fowl hunting, fly-fishing, and surfcasting.