Ray Donovan

Ray Donovan
17th United States Secretary of Labor
In office 1981–1985
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Ray Marshall
Succeeded by	William E. Brock
Personal details
Born	August 31, 1930 (1930-08-31) (age 81) Bayonne, New Jersey
Political party	Republican
Alma mater	Notre Dame Seminary
Profession	businessman

Raymond James Donovan (born August 31, 1930) is a former United States Secretary of Labor.

Donovan was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, and attended Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana. He worked as a union laborer in summers and received a B.A. in philosophy. Donovan went on to work for the American Insurance Company and Schiavone Construction Company, becoming the Vice President in charge of labor relations, finance, bonding and real estate in 1959, and by 1971 its Executive Vice President.

President Ronald Reagan appointed Donovan as U.S Secretary of Labor on February 4, 1981, and he served in this office until March 15, 1985. Under his secretaryship, he reduced the department's staff and budget, granted regulatory relief to businesses through changes in Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) enforcement practices, revised the Davis-Bacon rules, modified Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) rules, created new industrial home work rules, and revised the federal compliance regulations.

In a highly publicized 1987 case,^[1] Donovan and six other defendants were indicted by a Bronx County, New York grand jury for larceny and fraud in connection with a project to construct a new line for the New York City Subway, through a scheme involving a Genovese crime family associate and a minority-owned subcontractor.^[2] Schiavone Construction was obligated to subcontract part of the work to a minority-owned enterprise. The essence of the charge was that because the minority owned firm (Jo-Pel Contracting and Trucking Corp) leased equipment from Schiavone, that it was not truly independent of Schiavone.

On May 25, 1987, Donovan (and all of the other defendants) were acquitted, after which Donovan was famously quoted as asking, "Which office do I go to get my reputation back?"^[3] Donovan held 50% ownership in Schiavone Construction until its late 2007 sale to a Spanish congolomerate. He is a part owner of the Fiddler's Elbow Country Club.

References

1. ^ Time Magazine, June 8, 1987
2. ^ William K. Rashbaum, "Company With Big City Contracts Is Tied to Mob Schemes in Affidavit", New York Times, July 2, 2008
3. ^ The Natural, by Joe Klein

External links

General

• U.S. Department of Labor Biography
• Raymond J Donovan at NameBase
• Raymond J. Donovan at NNDB

Court filings

• Schiavone v Donovan et al., March 6, 2008

Political offices
Preceded by Ray Marshall	United States Secretary of Labor Served under: Ronald Reagan 1981—1985	Succeeded by William E. Brock

Persondata
Name	Donovan, Raymond J.
Alternative names
Short description	American politician
Date of birth	August 31, 1930
Place of birth	Bayonne, New Jersey
Date of death
Place of death