Joseph M. Donnelly, the chief financial officer at NBCUniversal Broadcasting and a longtime Comcast finance official, died on March 9 at St. Luke Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, at age 52, after suffering a heart attack on Feb. 28, according to several published reports and an official obituary.
A viewing will be held Wednesday, March 14, from 6-9 p.m. at the Donohue Funeral Home in Newtown Square, Pa.
A Mass of Christian Burial will follow Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m. at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Lansdale, Pa.
Prior to Comcast's merger with NBCUniversal, Donnelly was the CFO of Comcast's programming networks. Before that he worked in the cable company's development department, starting in 1996. A 2007 profile in B&C noted that projects Donnelly worked on ranged from investing in wedding-planner site TheKnot.com to Comcast's $47-billion acquisition of AT&T Broadband in 2003.
In the Philadelphia Inquirer, Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said: "Joe was such a wonderful, warm person and a strong, quiet leader. He was an important part of our company's growth -- and of our company's culture. We will miss him so much."
In a statement to NBCU employees last Friday, Steve Burke, the CEO
of NBCUniversal, said: “I had the pleasure of working with Joe during most of
his 15-year career at Comcast and this past year at NBCUniversal. While there
were many qualities to admire about him, I will most remember Joe as a person
of great integrity and warmth. He was always dedicated to doing the right
thing and he was one of those rare people who had no agenda other than to help
the company and be a good colleague.
"Joe had a great financial mind combined
with a warm and engaging personality. He was smart, hard-working and dependable
and always greeted you with a pleasant hello and smile. It is hard to think of
this company without him,” Burke said.
Obituaries in various Pennsylvania publications, including The Delaware County Daily Times, described his extensive commitment to and support for Catholic schools in the Philadelphia area.
Family members include his wife, Patricia Donnelly; sons Kevin and Patrick Donnelly and daughters Christine and Melissa Donnelly.
