Donald Edward McConnell, of Mount Pleasant, SC, passed away on January 3, 2026, at the age of 95.

Donald was born on December 29, 1930, to Roy and Hazel (Staples) McConnell in St. Cloud, MN. After graduating from St. Cloud Technical High School in 1948, Don joined the Army. He completed his service in the Army National Guard with a rank of Second Lieutenant and earned a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota under the GI bill. He had a long and successful career starting at Western Electric Co, first working on defense department projects like the Nike missile program and then transferring to the telephone side of the business where he worked in the Common Language Standards department within the Bell System which later became Bellcore and then Telcordia Technologies. He was a long time chair of the ISO Telephone Equipment and Location naming standards committee.

Don and his wife Sandra Dee (Fritz) met and married when he was attending the University of Minnesota and they went on to have 8 children while moving across the country with work projects including: Minnesota, North Carolina, Texas, Kwajalein and New Jersey. Don loved to travel, visiting every state in the US and taking his family to many national parks, historic sites and then across the world including Mexico, Australia, Europe and Africa. He passed on his love of travel, technology and photography to his children, taking many slides throughout his travels and his love for animals with many dogs who were part of his large “the more the merrier” family.

Don was predeceased by his wife Sandy, his son Charles, his parents Roy and Hazel along with his siblings Lucy, Robert and John. He is survived by his children Cynthia, Cheryl, Constance, Craig, Cara, Chris and Colleen along with grandchildren Christopher, Michael, Kaitlin, Amanda, Kalihyeta and Chloe.

Services will be held at J. Henry Stuhr, Inc., Mount Pleasant Chapel, 1494 Mathis Ferry Rd., Mt Pleasant SC at the end of March, with interment to follow in June at the Presbyterian Church in Morristown, NJ. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to your favorite charity supporting any of the following causes: national parks, animals or a cure for diabetes in his honor.

Arrangements are by J. Henry Stuhr, Inc., Mount Pleasant Chapel. A memorial message may be sent to the family on our website at www.jhenrystuhr.com.

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