Donaghy emigrated from Carrickmore, Country Tyrone in 1959 to New York City and began working in the construction industry. Eleven years later he co-founded Structure Tone, a general contracting and constructing management firm that has since become one of the most successful in the country.

As for today’s Irish immigrants who have come to America with hopes and dreams of their own, Donaghy says the keys to success are “hard work, diligence and persistence.”

In May of last year, Irish-born Patrick Donaghy lent his involvement to the Friends of Sinn Fein in America, saying that it was by accident of birth that he had been born in a country where nationalists like him had no say in the government and many had no option but to leave.

Donaghy feels that for the first time in his life there is a real chance for a lasting peace in Northern Ireland. “With the rest of the world thinking peace instead of war, it’s time our island too was at peace,” he says.