Robert S. Donner M.D.

Robert S. Donner died on Sunday, September 1, 2024, following an extended illness. A memorial service will be held at 11:00 am, Tuesday, September 3, 2024, at Temple Beth Israel with Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar officiating. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Temple Beth Israel, 892 Cherry Street, Macon, GA 31201, or the donor’s favorite charity.

He was born on May 28, 1934, in Newark, New Jersey, to Ann Chanin Donner and Mark Donner, before moving to Macon, Georgia in 1940. He attended Gresham Elementary School and Lanier High School, graduating in 1951. While at Lanier, he was an honor student and was a captain in the ROTC program. He attended college at Mercer University and Emory University and after three years of college was accepted at the Medical College of Georgia and received his M.D. degree in 1958. That class of the Medical College had eight students who had attended Lanier. Following graduation from the Medical College, he served an internship at the Graduate Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He had residency training in Pathology at the University of North Carolina Medical School, at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, and at St. Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta.

Upon completion of his post-graduate training in pathology, he served a year on the medical staff at M.D. Anderson Hospital, where he was the Director of the Hematology section of the clinical laboratory. He returned to Macon, where he joined the Pathology Department of the Macon Hospital, as an Associate pathologist with Dr. Joseph Eversole and Dr. John G. Etheridge, who was one of the eight members from Lanier of the graduating class of Medical College of Georgia. Over time, the Pathology Department grew in number to become the Ocmulgee Medical Pathology Association, P.A. (OMPAPA) and which provided the pathology services for all the hospitals in Macon.

With the development of the Mercer University School of Medicine, OMPAPA members joined the faculty of MUSM, and Dr. Donner became the chairman of the Pathology Department at MUSM in addition to serving in the hospital practice of pathology. At Mercer, he served as chair of Pathology, chair of the curriculum committee, and as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. In 2014, he received recognition with an award from Mercer, for outstanding service to the Medical School since the inception of the school. He was a member of the Association of Pathology Chairs (APC) and served as the chair of the undergraduate Medical Education Committee of APC and as secretary of the organization. He was an active member of the faculty until his retirement in 2017, when he was appointed Professor Emeritus.

Dr. Donner was on active duty with the U.S. Air Force during his post-graduate specialty training from 1960 – 1962, serving as a pathologist in the histopathology center in Lockland Air Force Base, Texas.

He had a kind heart, a quick wit, and great sense of humor. He loved baseball; but most of all, he loved his family.

Dr. Donner is preceded in death by his first wife, Tulagene Robertson Donner; his sister, Phyllis Donner Zislin and her husband Irving Zislin of Vineland, New Jersey; and daughter-in-law, Kris Donner.

Dr. Donner is survived by his wife of 41 years, Janice Hinson Donner; his children, Josh Donner (Lisa), David "Beau" Donner (Kimbrough), Matthew Donner (Monica), and Sarah Waldrep (Bill); step-son, Clint Suttles (Maria); grandchildren - Elijah, Grace, Ezra, Emmanuel, Zeke, Brighten, Kayleigh Sky, Custis, Macintosh, Mercer, Caroline, TulaBlue, Willow, Caitlin, Cara, Emmersyn, and Isabelle; nephew, Alex Zislin (Linda); and niece, Ellen Lamale (John).

Hart’s Mortuary, 765 Cherry Street, has charge of arrangements.