Councillor Donovan died on Saturday morning, aged 82.

Councillor Donovan was elected as councillor for the Bensham area in 1990, aged 62, and was re-elected in 2004 for Lobley Hill and Bensham when the ward boundaries changed. He served as Mayor of Gateshead from 1997 to 1998.

He is survived by his wife Nora, three children Catherine, Philip and John and four grandchildren, Andrew, Richard, Niall and Sam. His daughter Catherine was also elected as a Councillor for the same ward in 2002 and is currently Cabinet Member for Children and Young People for Gateshead Council.

Leader of Gateshead Council, Mick Henry, says: “Councillor Donovan was elected as a councillor later on in life and remained throughout, genuinely committed to supporting and advocating the community in which he lived. He and his family have played an active part in their area and in recent years he worked closely with his daughter Catherine on council issues.

“He had high standards for participation in council business and was well respected amongst our colleagues - we will remember his sense of humour. On behalf of Gateshead Council and the Lobley Hill and Bensham communities, may I express our sadness at this news - our thoughts are with his family.”

Councillor Donovan was born on 6th January 1928 in Newcastle and moved to Gateshead in 1955. He spent most of his working life as a heavy goods driver and for the last 15 years of his career he worked as a bus driver for Go Ahead Northern. He was chair of Appeals Committee, secretary of the local Labour Party branch and a member of the St Vincent De Paul Society. He was a Governor for Lobley Hill School and Brighton Avenue School and was member of the Transport and General Workers Union, now Unite, which awarded him a gold medal for loyalty and devotion to his service.
He was recently elected the chair Gateshead Nursery/St Chad's Children' Centre, Steering and Reference Group.
Councillor Donovan was also formerly Vice Chair of Social Services Committee, a member of the Policy and Resources Committee and chair of Bensham and Saltwell Community Partnership, which worked to regenerate the area by improving housing, education and health.

During his year as Mayor, he nominated Breakthrough Breast Cancer as his mayoral charity.