NYPD Detective Patrick Donohue of the Detectives Endowment Association and a 21-year veteran of the New York City Police Department, is receiving the Police Officer Edward Byrne Memorial Award.

The foundation for his career in law enforcement can trace its origins to County Galway, Ireland, where his mother, Mary Donohue (nee Varley) was born in a small rural town in Connemara called Clonbur, while his father was born in Balinakill. In their late teens, both of his parents immigrated to New York. They eventually married and started a family.

Although he and his older sisters, Tara and Colleen, were born in the Bronx, their upbringing was all Irish. His early years were spent on University Avenue near Fordham Road, before his family moved to the Woodlawn section of the Bronx in 1977.

There were Irish newspapers in the shops as well as friends whose family members spoke with the same Irish brogue as his parents. Sundays in his house started with listening to WFUV during breakfast, attending Mass and then a trip in the car to Gaelic Park with his father. Those countless Sundays at Gaelic Park created memories that would last a lifetime.