Donald Joseph O'Keefe

Donald Joseph O'Keefe, age 45, passed away on April 1, 2021 at his home in Belford, New Jersey from colorectal cancer. Don grew up in South Plainfield, NJ with his parents, his twin brother Sean, and a network of close-knit extended family. He moved to New York City to study English at Hunter College, earning his BA cum laude in 1999. Don then worked for Barnes & Noble, where he spent many years hosting top literary and open mic events in the East Village, Chelsea, and Midtown, and where he also met his wife, Adrienne. He later returned to his alma mater to work in the development department and went on to become Hunter College’s Associate Director of Annual Giving. He was also a published poet and blogger and reviewed books in The New York Times Book Review, but his proudest achievement was being a father. He loved to travel and made his way to a number of distant locales, including Machu Picchu, Thailand’s Andaman Coast, Paris, London, and numerous Caribbean islands, including Jamaica, where he and Adrienne had a memorable wedding ceremony during Hurricane Wilma in 2005. He was an avid gamer, and loved to play board games and video games with his children. He always looked forward to hosting game nights with his close friends and family. One friend said that if Don were to be portrayed in a film, it would have to be by Jimmy Stewart with a dash of James Dean--and Bruce Campbell for taste. Don is survived by his wife Adrienne O’Keefe (nee Linder), their children Brendan and Gwendolyn, parents Bryan and Helen, twin brother Sean and his wife Shana, stepmother Christine and her daughter Katy, brother-in-law Jason and his wife Missy, mother-in-law Nancy and father-in-law Robert, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins. Donations in his memory may be made to Hunter College at www.hunter.cuny.edu/give, where a “Donald O’Keefe Memorial Scholarship'' has been created in his honor.