Donald B. Katz, age 77, passed peacefully Wednesday, May 8, 2024, surrounded by his family.  He leaves his wife of 54 years, Jeannie (Carr) Katz, and two children: Rachel Katz and her husband Brian Cronin, of Portland, ME, and Aaron Katz and his wife Rebecca, of Sutton; three grandchildren: Finn, Evelyn and Benjamin; two sisters: Dr. Susan F. Katz, of Oregon and Cynthia Shepherd, in Spain; and many nieces and nephews.

Donald Barry was born in Jersey City, NJ, May 20, 1946, the son of Robert H. and Mildred (Finkelman) Katz.  He grew up in West New York, NJ where he graduated from Memorial High School. His love of sports started as a kid, playing basketball at the local Jewish community center and then playing basketball and tennis through high school.  He attended the University of Vermont where he earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and played on the UVM basketball team.  His 47-year career in teaching and coaching began in 1969 in Northfield, Vermont.  A year later, he met Jeannie and moved to Massachusetts to begin teaching at Northbridge High School where he taught full time until 2006, then part-time AP Calculus until 2016 when he retired.  Outside of the classroom, Don was either coaching Northbridge boys' basketball or track. He was the JV basketball coach from 1969-1973, Varsity coach from 1974-1999, and boys' track coach from 1971-2006.  He was also committed to his role as an educator serving as the president of the Northbridge Teacher's Association for 13 years, the Math Department Chair from 1973-2006, and was the director of the Northbridge Parks Program from 1971-1975.

Donald dedicated his life to education, sports and his family. He was an avid reader, enjoyed cooking and spending time with his 3 grand kids and wife Jeannie. Don took great pride in watching his son Aaron continue coaching basketball at Northbridge High School. Don and Jeannie enjoyed traveling frequently to Maine and Oregon, feeding the birds, and being bossed around by their many Scottish terriers over the years.

The family would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to the nurses and doctors at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Milford, MA and to the ICU and ER teams at Milford Regional Hospital.

Memorial Calling Hours will be held from 4-7PM, Tuesday, May 14.  In lieu of flowers, please consider either donating blood in Don's honor, or a memorial donation to support cancer research and patient care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, PO Box 849168, Boston, MA 02284.