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Pino Donaggio, Italian singer and soundtrack composer, was born into a musical family on the island of Burano in Venice. He began his musical career as a classically trained violinist, having started playing at the age of 10. He attended the Benedetto Marcello conservatory in Venice and later the Giuseppe Verdi conservatory in Milan. He first played on radio in a Vivaldi concert at the age of 14. He then played with the groups, I Solisti Veneti and I Solisti di Milano. In 1959, however, his life changed course when he discovered rock ‘n roll and had a chance to sing with Paul Anka. From then on, he began writing songs, participating ten times at the Sanremo festival. He recorded his first album in 1961, “Recital;” three years later he wrote his greatest hit, “Io che non-vivo,” which was sung in English as “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” by Dusty Springfield and Elvis Presley. It sold 80 million copies internationally. His career took another turn in1973 when he began writing scores for cinema, with a predilection for horror films. Between 1976 and 2019, he collaborated seven times with director Brian De Palma. He was to pursue this path through the 70s, 80s, 90s, and into the 21st century, adding Italian, and some German television soundtracks after 1986. In forty years, he created more than 200 soundtracks for both film and television in Italy and abroad. In 2012 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Soundtrack Academy.

James Thomas Donald was born on October 30, 1856, in St. Catharines, Ontario.

He was a chemist, assayer, and mining geologist. He was educated at McGill University (B.A. in Natural Science, 1878 and M.A., 1882). He was asked by Sir. William Dawson to introduce the teaching of science (chemistry and botany) in high schools and he became the first science master at the Montreal High School. He was Professor of Chemistry at the Medical Faculty of Bishop's College, Lennoxville, QC (later merged with McGill). He was also an Official Analyst to the Dominion Government, District of Montreal. In 1889, he opened a commercial laboratory and chemical consulting firm. During World War I, the firm acted as consulting chemists to the Ministry of Munitions in Canada. In 1920, the business was incorporated as J.T. Donald & Co. Limited. His son James Richardson Donald joined the firm in 1922 and subsequently became its President. Donald Inspection Limited, a subsidiary company, was formed in 1926. During World War II, the company was actively connected with various chemical phases of the war effort. Donald often lectured before scientific institutions and contributed numerous articles to various scientific journals, e.g., Engineering and Mining Journal (N.Y.), Popular Science Monthly, and the Canadian Mining Record. He was a Fellow of the Chemical Society and a member of the Society of Chemical Industry and American Chemical Society.

In 1883, he married Elizabeth Willow or Willan (d. 1884) and in 1887, he remarried Evelyn Belliss (1866–). He died on June 11, 1940, in Quebec, Canada

Born in Montréal, J. R. Donald graduated with a double degree in Arts and Applied Science from McGill in 1913. He joined his father's firm J. T. Donald and Co., of which he later became president. During World War II, Donald was director of the Chemicals and Explosives Production Branch of the Department of Munitions and Supply, and was one of the original members of the Joint War Production Board of the U.S. and Canada set up by the Hyde Park Agreement. For these services he was awarded an O. B. E. in 1943. Particularly knowledgeable on the subject of regional economic development in relation to chemical and mineral industries, Donald was special consultant to the Federal government on Cape Breton mines in 1965-1966. He was awarded the Chemical Industry Medal in 1951 and the Montreal Medal of the Chemical Institute of Canada in 1952. For a short history of J. T. Donald and Company, see section V. Business and Economy.