Tim Donovan, longtime executive director of Canalway Partners, died Wednesday. He was 74.

Canalway Partners is the nonprofit organization dedicated to developing the Ohio & Erie Canalway, which Congress made a National Heritage Area during Donovan’s 30-year stretch as executive director. Donovan’s key success was the completion of the Towpath Trail, a 100-mile stretch with trailheads from Downtown Cleveland to New Philadelphia.

Gabriel Kramer / Ideastream Public Media

“The Cleveland portion of the trail in Cleveland from Harvard Avenue North, I kind of unofficially have referred to it as the Donovan Trail, because it never would have happened without him,” said Tom Yablonsky, one of the founders of Canalway Partners.

Yablonsky and Donovan remained good friends well after Donovan’s

See Full Page