Donna Bagley

About Donna Bagley

Donna Bagley grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and graduated from Denison University with a major in history and a minor in biology. She attended the Institute for Paralegal Training in Philadelphia, PA with a focus on corporate law. She worked for the law firm of Baker and Baker in Baltimore, Maryland, primarily in the areas of corporate transactional law and estate administration. She served as the initial contact for estate planning clients responsible for preliminary drafts of wills, trusts, codicils and health care directives. She also handled probate matters including opening estates, filing of Orphan’s Court pleadings, estate administration accounts and drafting of Federal Estate Tax returns. Her deep respect for the natural world began early on, fostered by spending a part of every summer on Southport Island. The property where she now lives with her husband has been in her family since the 1930s. A major seminal experience resulted from the opportunity to spend a summer session at the University of Nairobi in Kenya studying anthropology and African ecology. This instilled a lifelong desire to help conserve and protect ecosystems essential to the preservation of wildlife.

Donna and her husband have lived for over forty years on Gibson Island, Maryland, a 1921 Olmsted Brothers planned community of a thousand acres on the Chesapeake Bay. Three quarters of the Island is maintained as a bird sanctuary and preserved woodlands. Donna has served on the Gibson Island Corporation board, which manages all aspects of the forested land, fresh water lake and common open spaces. She has enjoyed sailing the Chesapeake Bay for many years and the Caribbean during the winter months.

Since leaving the professional world to focus on the needs of her family, she has been a strong supporter of educational institutions. Donna and her husband have created scholarship funds for Calvert School in Baltimore, Maryland; Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia; Hobart College in Geneva, New York and the University of Baltimore Law School. They have also supported primary school education through the Gibson Island Country school, Severn School of Severna Park, Maryland and the Indian Creek school of Annapolis, Maryland. Of special importance has been their efforts to promote and support the Hospice of the Chesapeake and the Providence Center, a nonprofit dedicated to job training and employment opportunities for the developmentally disabled. Donna is a devoted traveler but also looks forward to introducing her five grandchildren to the wonderful world of summer in coastal Maine.