Born and raised in South Buffalo, New York, Bill Donohue attended St. Bonaventure University and the University of Louvain, Belgium. He became a Catholic priest in 1964 and served for ten years before leaving the priesthood and marrying in 1974. He was a New York State Commerce Commissioner and worked as a community change agent in Flint, Michigan. He and his wife Mary Alice have six daughters and a bevy of grandchildren. The story of his great grandfather, Patrick Donohue, parallels in many ways his own ragged route to selfhood.