Palm Beach Maritime Museum, Inc.

Board of Trustees and Officers

Thorne Donnelley, DBA, EA-Chairman, Palm Beach Maritime Museum Board of Trustees

Mr. Donnelley is the great grandson of the founder of one of the largest commercial printing companies in the world, R.R. Donnelley & Sons, founded in 1858.  His great grandfather from Illinois was purportedly the fund raiser for Abraham Lincoln.  After graduating from Loyola Marymount University, Donnelley worked for the family business. He also earned his Doctorate in Business Administration at Nova Southeastern University. Mr. Donnelley founded and ran Trans-Exec Air Service in Los Angeles, the second largest jet and helicopter company in town.  Mr. Donnelley moved back to Palm Beach in 1995 and started Liberty Tax Service and now has nine Liberty Tax stores and Liberty Book Store on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach.

William E. Burckart, II-Member-Board of Trustees

Mr. Burckart is a real estate broker and has built his brokerage business into a leading force in the local commercial development industry.  He was a partner in developing the Jupiter Farms Center anchored by Publix.  He served on the Village of Tequesta Council from 1988 until 1996, retiring as the Vice-Mayor.  He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Perry Institute for Marine Science.  Mr. Burckart has been very involved with assuring appropriate environmental protection for the Loxahatchee, Jupiter-Tequesta region.

Melbourne Smith-Member-Board of Trustees

Melbourne Smith is the Marine Superintendent of the Palm Beach Maritime Museum.  He is founder and President of International Historical Watercraft Society, Inc, since 1975; and Advisory Board Chairman for National Maritime Historical Society. He is a former Royal Canadian Sea Cadet and a licensed Sailing Master (Home Trade, Canada). Smith also taught celestial navigation as a commissioned officer in Defenca Nacional de Guatemala and began boatbuilding in British Honduras.  Melbourne Smith, the designer and builder of PRIDE OF Baltimore, setting off a wave of patriotism in the “malaise” of the seventies, has designed and built a number of successful tall ships, including Niagara for the State of Pennsylvania and Privateer Lynx and Californian.

John C. Grant-Chief Executive Officer/Superintendent

Founder, President, and CEO, Palm Beach Maritime Museum and Academy, John Grant is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and had been, for a number of years, directly involved with the development of the U.S. Navy’s undersea warfare program.  His interests are in the education of future generations about the world’s ocean.  He has produced educational films about the sea, including “Man in the Sea” and “The Great Sea Farm” which won the Cine Golden Eagle and the Chris Statuette Award for Best Educational Film of 1972.  Also, in 1979/80 he restored the Presidential Yacht “USS Sequoia”.