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Raoul “Ray” Donato (b. October 18, 1940) was born in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines. He was the 8th of 9 children of Mariano and Carmen Rivero Donato, a prominent family of Vigan. His parents brought him to Manila in 1945 (after the end of WWII) for schooling and enrolled him at De La Salle College (now University) until his graduation in 1964.

Early Life and Career
Raoul Donato was the Class President of most of his educational school years and became the Editor-in-Chief of the La Sallian Yearbook in 1959. He then embarked into college in the same school graduating in 1964 with a bachelor's degree(s) in Business Administration and Liberal Arts. Donato won the Gold Medal Thesis award during the graduation ceremony in March, 1964 named “The future of the Cashew Industry in the Philippines”.

Donato then embarked for the United States in September 1964 (at the urging of his father Mariano who graduated as an Electrical Engineer from Notre Dame University in Indiana in 1924). He acquired his master's degree at St. John's University on June 6, 1971. He further went to Columbia University in New York for further studies in International Executive Management and Pace University.

In 1966, Donato joined one of the largest trading houses of Japan called “Nissho American Corporation. It later became Nissho-Iwai. The Company is now called “Sojitz Corporation” of Japan an $80 Billion enterprise. He was the first non-Japanese to become an officer of the Corporation. He dealt in the Iron and Steel Industry and eventually in oil and gas and other products for over 38 years. He had developed businesses with Pemex (Petrolios de Mexico) and Petrobras from Brazil. Donato also developed extensive trading operations with Mannesmann in Brazil and Hoogovens from the Netherlands. He then became the Senior Vice-President and General Manager of the Atlanta operations and the Southeast in 1990.

In December 1989, Donato was nominated as the First Honorary Consul (then promoted to Consul General) of the Philippines in the United States. He was appointed by Raul S. Manglapus, the late Secretary of Foreign Affairs and confirmed by the late President Corazon Aquino. Philippine Ambassador to the United States Emmanuel Pelaez inducted him at the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. in January 1990. He was then appointed as the “Philippine Olympic Attache” in the Summer Olympics games in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996. He received a plaque of appreciation from Juan Antonio Samaranch, the President of the International Olympic Committee. (As of 2019, he is the Honorary Consul in Atlanta.)

Donato was also appointed as the Trade Counsel for the Jamaican Government in 1999 by Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson. He initiated the development of an LNG project in Jamaica and worked on the Bauxite and Resort development of that country.

During his career, he traveled extensively throughout Asia, Europe and Africa and the Middle East. He had the opportunity to host and meet with leading entrepreneurs including Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, and Alice Walton, his daughter. He hosted Philip Knight (founder of Nike shoes) and the late Arthur Ashe, the tennis player. He met former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter and Ambassador Andrew Young and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. President Musevini was involved in the war that ousted Idi Amin Dada, the dictator of Uganda.

In 2002 Donato retired from Nissho Iwai group of companies and started his own companies. He continues to be active in the energy and hotel development areas including acquisitions and mergers. He is currently forming an IT (Information Technology) group.

He married Margaret “Peggy” Paulsen McCarthy from Boston, the great grand daughter of Axel Paulsen, the champion Ice-Skater where the “single” Axel was named after (now the “Triple Axel”). They have two children, Christine and Alexis and 4 grand children (Mac, Jackson, Peri and Samson)