Longtime Associated Press executive James Donna dies at 71

James M. Donna, who over three decades served in an array of news and management posts with The Associated Press, died Wednesday after an illness of several weeks. He was 71.

Donna’s wife, Pat Lukaszewska, said the cause of death was kidney and liver failure.

Donna joined the AP at its Philadelphia bureau in 1973 after stints with Look magazine and the Reading Eagle newspaper in Pennsylvania.

He subsequently served in several posts at AP’s global headquarters in New York, including enterprise editor and New York City bureau chief.

He left the AP briefly in the early 1980s to work for Gamma Liaison news photo agency, then returned to serve in a diverse series of management jobs, including assistant to the president, vice-president and secretary of the board of directors, director of human resources, and senior vice-president of international business.

He retired from the AP in 2006.

Tom Curley, who was the AP’s president when Donna was human resources director, said Donna “brought a welldeveloped journalist’s sense of justice’’ to that role.

“He made sure everyone faced the facts and worked to make AP better,’’ Curley said in an email. “And he did it with determination and an infectious laugh.’’

Lou Boccardi, Curley’s predecessor as president, said Donna “gave life and meaning to the ‘human’ half of his title as director of human resources.’’

“While we gave him difficult assignments throughout his career, I never heard anybody say they didn’t like him,’’ Boccardi said in an email. “He was a kind and caring and fundamentally joyful man whose loyalty was, always, to the people of the AP, even in the toughest moments.’’