Thomas E. Doran

Tom passed away at home on February 9, 2023, after a long illness. Tom is survived by his beloved wife Donna Franchetti VMD, and many cousins nieces and nephews.

Tom graduated from College of the Holy Cross and University of Pennsylvania Law School. He began his career in law in 1971 at Dilworth Paxon and then moved to Dechert in 1985 where he was the Chair of the Tax Team and the Finance and Real Estate Team and the Head of the Firm's Marketing. He lectured for years at Rutgers Law School, Villanova and the Penn State Tax Conference. Tom had a brilliant mind and innate ability to put himself in his client's shoes. Those talents, together with a real ability to listen, enabled Tom to flourish as a lawyer. Tom was the most loyal of friends. He was a friend and mentor to innumerable lawyers and staff, many of whom had their careers and lives shaped by his guidance.

After retirement, Tom's interests ranged from his love of sports (he was an avid baseball and boxing fan) to his voracious appetite for books (Tom traded books with his friends regularly); from his love of his dogs (Tom could always be found with a small cadre of dogs piled near him when he was reading) to his love for horse racing (Tom was a regular at Saratoga and owned and raced many Standardbreds); from his enthusiasm for working out (he lifted weights or played handball almost every day) to his relentless desire to help his friends. Not a day went by that Tom wasn't helping someone, somewhere, with a problem they were having. He was extremely generous and had time for everyone right until the very end of his life.

Services will be private. His family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to College of the Holy Cross, The National Wildlife Federation or Ocean Conservancy.