Bernard “Bernie” O’Donnell Jr.’s quiet-yet-playful demeanor is what made his office hours an outlet for success and community.
For years, students counted on finding the UF law professor sipping black coffee and eating a Wawa breakfast at the table to the right of Library West’s escalators. There, O’Donnell guided students through academics and internships, and sometimes simply provided a good laugh.
O’Donnell passed away in Gainesville Feb. 23. He was 55.
Students remembered him for his honesty and academic rigor. Known for his straightforwardness, O’Donnell challenged students with hard-hitting lessons and critiques, always with the intent of helping them thrive in law.
Ella Morejon, a 19-year-old UF political science and criminology sophomore, said while O’Donnell was “notorious” for using a red pen to make “crazy annotations” on students’ assignments, his only goal was to help his students excel in law.
“We honestly laughed a lot in the process,” Morejon said. “He wasted no words. No breath.”
O’Donnell was known for his insistence on single-sided paper, secured with binder clips, and for meticulously marking assignments in red ink. In tribute, students set up a memorial at his usual spot in Library West, leaving flowers, binder clips and notes written in red ink — symbols of his unique teaching style.
Born on Oct. 31, 1969, in Bay Village, Ohio, O’Donnell graduated from St. Ignatius High School in 1987 before attending the Marine Military Academy in Texas. He earned his undergraduate degree from Mary Washington College in 1993.
After graduating, he taught at Loyola Academy in Chicago before pursuing higher education at UF, where he earned a master’s degree in English literature. He later completed his Juris Doctor at Florida State University, graduating third in his class, and was in the process of pursuing a PhD in English literature at UF.
O’Donnell worked as an attorney in Fort Myers before returning to academia, joining UF as an adjunct professor in the early 2000s. At UF, he taught law courses such as “Law and Literature” and “Introduction to Law,” even creating the former course after being hired.
Beyond the classroom, he was passionate about law, his students and Cleveland sports. He was also a devoted music enthusiast and loved to show others what he listened to.
O’Donnell specifically enjoyed bands like U2, The Pogues and R.E.M., and genres such as alternative country, alternative British and traditional Irish music.
Shadi Johnston, O’Donnell’s sister, said he had a great vocabulary and was the funniest person she and most people knew. O’Donnell was also an amazing uncle to her three children, Johnston said.
“He remembered what each of their interests were, and he always took the time to call and to talk to them to joke around with them,” she said.
Johnston, 10 years younger than her brother, reminisced on times when he would make her watch movies and comedy shows he liked. She also said he made “probably thousands” of mixtapes with music he liked, and he would quiz her on the music from those mixtapes.
“I was probably the only 6-year-old that could recite the lines from ‘Fletch’ the movie,” she said.
Bella Berger, a 21-year-old UF political science junior, and Naomi Patel, a 20-year-old UF political science junior, fondly remembered their morning chats with O’Donnell after his 7:25 a.m. class.
Berger recalled peeking between the wooden poles by the Library West escalators to see if O’Donnell was at his usual spot for office hours. Despite being busy, he never turned down a conversation with a student, Berger said.
“He was OK with knowing us to the point that he knew I loved shopping, to the point where he knew my favorite color was black,” Patel said.
Vishnu Malhotra, a 20-year-old UF economics and philosophy junior on the pre-law track, described O’Donnell as “father-like.” Malhotra, who took two classes with O’Donnell, said the professor encouraged him to achieve his full potential, often helping him study for the LSAT and workshopping his resumé and internship applications.
“He had higher expectations for my ability, even higher than I wanted out of myself,” Malhotra said.
One of Malhotra’s favorite memories was when O’Donnell humorously mispronounced the acronym “URL” as “earl.” When a student corrected him, O’Donnell responded by starting the next class with a video arguing for his pronunciation.
According to Malhotra, O’Donnell used it to demonstrate “the power of using evidence to support your position” in the courtroom.
“It truly feels like there’s a hole in the pre-law community,” Malhotra said. “He’ll never be able to be replaced.”
Memorial services will be held March 7 at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church in Rocky River, Ohio. Donations in O’Donnell’s honor can be made to scholarship funds at St. Ignatius High School or UF.
Contact Sofia Meyers at smeyers@alligator.org. Follow her on X @SofiaMeyer84496
Sofia Meyers is a second-year journalism major and the university general assignment reporter. When she is not reporting, she enjoys taking walks, reading books and playing pickle ball.
