High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Major General William Joseph Donovan, USA, GCSS, KBE (January 1, 1883 February 8, 1959) was an American soldier, lawyer and intelligence officer, best remembered as wartime head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). He is also widely known as the "father" of today's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Of Irish descent, Donovan was born in Buffalo, New York to first generation immigrants Anna Letitia "Tish" Lennon Donovan and Timothy Donovan. He at ...