Donovan Deakin

Donovan Deakin, 50, of Seattle, passed away unexpectedly on June 15, 2020. Loving husband, devoted father, dependable son, caring brother, and good friend, with a gentle smile and kind eyes.

He was born on a naval base in Virginia and moved about in a military family, with first memories in Milwaukee, hence his life-long love of the Green Bay Packers and the Milwaukee Brewers. His childhood moves, including time in Germany, inspired his love of travel, history, culture, politics, and 1980’s euro-music.

Donovan received his BA in History and Education from the University of Maine. After saving for a few months’ rent, Donovan made his first crossing of the Mississippi en route to Seattle along with his best friend. He planned to become a middle school history teacher and change the world. However, he fell into software as a product manager, working for WRQ/Attachmate, Microsoft, and in cloud computing, before returning home to Attachmate/Micro Focus most recently with a team he loved.

He met his wife in the crowd at the Tractor Tavern, while The Paperboys took the stage. They married on a sunny day on a dock in Lake Union and shared nearly 15 years of love and teamwork. As newlyweds, they moved to Germany, and Donovan was over the moon to share his longest childhood home with Carolyn. While Carolyn worked for the US Army Hospital, Donovan was the Haus Mann, planning trips to dozens of countries and thousands of miles of the back roads of Europe. His most exciting memory was walking through the Brandenburg Gate, without the Berlin Wall, only to be greeted by a Starbucks on the other side.

They returned to Seattle and started a family, welcoming Fiona and then Liam into their lives. Donovan encouraged his children to think outside the box, challenge the status quo, stand up for equality, and explore the world through books, movies, music, food, and travel. Trips included visiting family and discovering San Francisco, Maine, Cape Cod, Hong Kong, and Copenhagen, and many other adventures – pandas and peaceful protests in Taiwan, copper workshops and Semana Santa in colonial central Mexico, a walk of the Freedom Trail in Boston, Dutch canals by sailboat, villages and battlefields of Belgium, castles and socialism in Denmark, goat farms and raptors in central Oregon, camping with the bears in the Canadian Rockies, mosquitoes and humidity in northern Minnesota, and, for his 50th birthday-year trip, rich honest democracy in the cloud forests, bird sanctuaries, walled cities, and graffiti tours of urban centers of Colombia.

He taught Fiona and Liam to think critically while indoctrinating them with progressive values, to make the world a better place. The last book he read to the children was “A Young People’s History of the US.” On the weekend preceding his death, he took Fiona and Liam to the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, to show them that democracy required continuous struggle. It was only time he broke the 14-week quarantine; while Carolyn fretted, he said that democracy is too important for the kids not to experience history in the making. He believed that knowledge was power and those ignorant of history were doomed to repeat it.

Donovan was known widely as a kind and gentle man, who enriched the lives of those he touched. He was a loyal son, protective big brother to Fred, youth sports coach, Mariners and Sounders fan, generous poker buddy, political pundit (especially about third party candidates), alt country music fan, and connoisseur of craft beer. All who knew him are richer for his presence, and will cherish their memories and share these with his children.

He is survived by his wife Carolyn Rohrs, children Fiona and Liam, parents Craig and Sarah, brother Fred, sister-in-law Devon Lowery, cousins (Katherine and Rebecca), and scores of heartbroken friends and colleagues.

The celebration of Donovan’s life will be held at a future date in or near Seattle, when social distancing guidelines allow. Instead of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Fiona and Liam’s joint college fund (www.ugift529.com  code N4L-81G). Thank you to the Seattle Fire Department Station 16 and Seattle Medic One. Donovan was adamant that a robust social net be a priority over violence. In Donovan’s memory, work for democracy, equality, and a more peaceful world.