![[photo, James J. O'Donnell, Maryland Secretary of Transportation]](/msa/mdmanual/24dot/former/images/1198-1-05242b.jpg)
JAMES J. O'DONNELL (1918-2014)Secretary of Transportation, 1979 to 1981. Member, Governor's Executive Council, 1979-81. Chair, Maryland Transportation Authority, 1979-81. Member, Maryland Council on the Economy, Environment, and Energy Production, 1979-81; Emergency Resources Priority Board, 1979-81; Maryland Highway Safety Coordinating Committee, 1979-81; Regional Planning Council, 1979-81; Transportation Professional Services Selection Board, 1979-81; Washington Suburban Transit Commission, 1979-81; State Development Council, 1980-81.
Director, State Planning Department, 1958-68. Chair, Regional Planning Council (formerly Baltimore Regional Planning Council}, 1958-62 (vice-chair, 1962-68). Member, State Incentive Awards Board, 1958-62; State Coordinating Commission on Problems of the Aging, 1959-68; Air Transportation Survey Commission, 1961; Worcester County Commission to Help Develop Assateague Island, 1961; Committee to Assist in the Development of a Master Plan for Forests and Parks, 1961-62. Vice-Chair, Commission to Study Possibilities for Improving the Equipment and Facilities at Friendship Airport, 1961-62. Member, Committee to Study the State Debt, 1961-68. Vice-Chair, Susquehanna Interstate Advisory Committee, 1962-68. Member, Maryland Commission on Intergovernmental Cooperation, 1964-68; Committee to Review the Desirability of State Assistance for the Walters Art Gallery, 1965-66; Maryland Scenic Beauty Commission, 1965-67 (chair, air & water pollution committee); Maryland Commission on the Capital City, 1965-68. Chair, Interstate Advisory Committee on the Potomac River Basin, 1965-68. Member, Commission for the Modernization of the Executive Branch of the Maryland Government, 1966-67; Commission to Study Agricultural Land Preservation, 1967.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, September 26, 1918. Attended Cathedral School; Loyola High School; Loyola College; U.S. Naval Academy, B.S., 1941. Served in U.S. Navy, 1941-1946. University of Maryland School of Law, J.D., 1951. Admitted to Maryland Bar, 1952. Registered professional engineer. Former design director, Point Breeze Works, Western Electric Company, Baltimore. Vice-President, J. Prentiss Browne, architects and planners, 1968-72. President, Maryland Society of Professional Engineers, 1951-53. Member, Engineering Society of Baltimore (past member, board of directors). Past member, Association of State Planning and Development Agencies (past president); National Society of Professional Engineers; American Institute of Planners. Member, Country Club of Maryland; Hunt Valley Country Club. Member, Cathedral of Mary Our Queen Parish, Baltimore, Maryland. Widower; three children, seven grandchildren, three great-grandchildren. Died in Timonium, Maryland, March 25, 2004.
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