Cleveland, Ohio Tim Donovan, who oversaw Canalway Partners for thirty years and fought to turn a run-down canal into one of Northeast Ohio’s most cherished recreational resources, passed away in Cleveland on Wednesday. He was seventy-four.
In announcing his demise, Canalway Partners stated that his foresight, knowledge, perseverance, and teamwork cleared the path for a trail system that has permanently enhanced the standard of living in northeast Ohio.
The Ohio & Erie Canal was a contaminated and overgrown relic when Donovan took over as executive director of Canalway Partners in 1990. “People have fallen in love with the Towpath Trail, but at first, the idea of walking or biking alongside the canal drew skepticism,” he recounted in an interview with Cleveland Magazine in 2019. There were just three board members and ten dollars in the group’s treasury.
According to a 2019News 5 Cleveland story, Donovan helped transform those modest beginnings into more than $50 million in funding for the Towpath Trail project. The path, which travels through four counties and innumerable vistas, was made possible by the meticulous, methodical design that connected Cleveland’s lakefront to Zoar, Ohio.
Former Cleveland planning director and Canalway Partners board member Chris Ronayne, a county executive, remembers Donovan’s resolve to purchase the land, much of it through dense industrial areas, which was necessary for the final 5.5 miles of the trail’s northern section from Harvard Road to the Flats.
Given his Irish heritage, Donovan felt a connection to the Irish immigrants who dug the canal, which once linked Cleveland to the rest of the globe.
He claimed that Tim was the best Cleveland history interpreter he had ever encountered.
Grace Gallucci, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, described the Towpath Trail as a kind of reparation for the harm caused to communities by highway construction during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the northern section in 2021. We couldn’t have done that without Tim, she added, adding that NOACA invested $34 million in the project—more than any other infrastructure endeavor in the agency’s history.
The bike and pedestrian corridor is an essential part of the area’s transportation system, she said.
Donovan led environmental initiatives and community-building activities alongside the Towpath, such as RiverSweep, which turned hundreds of acres into parks and trails and became Ohio’s largest one-day river cleaning. He started Cleveland History Days and co-founded Take a Hike, which provides guided tours of Cleveland’s neighborhoods.
Donovan, a native of Cleveland, was raised on the West Side of the city, where his mother operated an Ohio Bell and his father dug ditches for the gas company. Donovan received his degrees from Cleveland State University and St. Ignatius High School. He enjoyed taking lengthy bike rides, and occasionally he would ride the Towpath to Akron for 50 miles round trip.
Donovan served on the Cleveland Board of Zoning Appeals for a considerable amount of time. He maintained the confidence of numerous civic leaders even after his personal financial difficulties in 2014 came under public attention.
Donovan told Cleveland Magazine that he envisioned Canal Basin Park at the northern end of the Towpath Trail as a family-friendly green area and an amazing place to meet at night. In his later years, he intended to take on the position of senior consultant with Canalway Partners.
According to Canalway Partners, Donovan’s proudest moments were finishing the Towpath Trail and having Congress designate the Ohio & Erie Canalway as a National Heritage Area.
Mera Cardenas, the current executive director of Canalway Partners, expressed her sadness at Tim Donovan’s passing. He was unparalleled in his dedication to Canalway Partners and his passion for presenting Cleveland’s past.
Ronayne, who grew close to Donovan, witnessed such passion often. When he remarked that someone they both knew was leaving town while they were enjoying a beer at the Flat Iron Caf in the Flats, he recalls Donovan pounding his fist on the bar and asking, “Why would anybody leave Cleveland?”
