Donna Lorraine Richter, Ed.D.

Donna Lorraine Richter, Ed.D., a beloved mother, mentor, and public health pioneer, passed away on December 15, 2025 in Baltimore, MD. She was 74. Her death followed a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease, and she died peacefully with family at her side.

Donna was born to Helen Louise (Reynolds) Richter and Lawrence Edward Richter, Sr. in Charleston, SC on January 20, 1951. She graduated from Bishop England High School in 1969 and received her B.A. in Spanish and Psychology from Duke University in 1973. At Duke, she joined the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, became fluent in Spanish through study in Mexico, and made lifelong friends. She earned her Ed.D. in Education from the University of South Carolina in 1982.

During a career in higher education that spanned four decades, Donna poured her energy into the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health, where she was known as a gifted scholar, mentor, and leader. Hired as an assistant professor in 1983, she advanced to tenured full professor in 2002 and was appointed dean in 2003. She later served as the founding executive director of the South Carolina Public Health Institute and returned briefly to teaching before retiring in 2014.

Donna’s research was driven by a deep commitment to reducing health disparities in South Carolina and around the world. Over the course of her career, she secured more than $22 million in competitive research funding to strengthen HIV prevention programs serving minority communities across South Carolina. Her research eventually took her to Sierra Leone, West Africa, where she undertook a Fulbright Fellowship in 1994 to study the obstacles facing community-based HIV prevention organizations in and around the capital, Freetown. Building on this work, she developed a national model for scaling up community-based HIV prevention programs across the United States. The Institute for HIV Prevention Leadership, a decade-long initiative funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, provided management training to a generation of grassroots public health leaders.

A prolific author, Donna published 24 academic articles and co-authored dozens more with colleagues and students. A list of Donna’s co-authors could be used to map the network of emerging public health professionals that she taught and mentored at the Arnold School, many of whom became lifelong friends. She took her role as a mentor very seriously, but carried it lightly. Her sense of humor, wise counsel, constructive feedback, and—above all—accessibility will be remembered fondly by two generations of public health professionals in South Carolina and beyond.

Donna’s career in public health introduced her to one of the true joys in her life: travel. Collaborations with international public health colleagues enabled her to explore the world extensively. In addition to Mexico and Sierra Leone, her work took her to China, Tanzania, Austria, Uganda, Taiwan, and dozens of other countries. She forged lasting friendships in every corner of the world.

Donna delighted in sharing her love of travel with others, and she planned many family trips to southern Spain, Aruba, Cancun, Hawaii, and other favorite destinations. Nothing made her happier than returning to a special place and seeing it anew through her loved ones’ eyes. These travels also provided endless material for Donna’s stories, which she told with a boisterous sense of humor and a gift for making those around her laugh—often at themselves, and always with warmth. She will remain close to us through the stories traded by those who love her.

Donna is preceded in death by her father Lawrence Edward Richter, Sr., her mother Helen Louise Richter, her sister Annette Richter-Stukenbroeker, her aunt Ruth Reeder, and her cousin Joyce Howard.

Donna is survived by her son Reynolds Lawrence Richter and daughter-in-law Anna Louise Messing; her grandson Arthur Orsen Richter; her brother Lawrence E. Richter, Jr.; her cousins Steven and Wendy Bath; her cousin Manning Bath, his wife Elisa Bath, and their sons Reeder and Beckett; her nephew Ryan Stukenbroeker; her nieces Abigail Stukenbroeker, Alice Anne Richter, Claire E. Deveaux, Anna Elizabeth Richter, and their children; a large extended family that she loved to spend time with; and a chosen family built on bonds of laughter, reciprocity, curiosity, and Duke college basketball fandom—preferred, but not required.

The family will receive friends from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 3, 2026, at McAlister-Smith Funeral and Cremation, 1520 Rifle Range Road, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464.

The funeral service will be at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 3, 2026, also at McAlister-Smith Funeral and Cremation – Mount Pleasant.

Burial will follow the service at Mount Pleasant Memorial Gardens, 1308 Mathis Ferry Road, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made here to the South Carolina Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Expressions of sympathy may be viewed or submitted online at https://www.mcalister-smith.com/obituaries/donna-richter-ed-d.