Marge Cooney, also known as Margaret Cooney, is best remembered as the first wife of legendary American television host Phil Donahue. Long before Donahue became one of daytime television’s most influential programs, Marge was part of Phil’s life as he moved from a young broadcaster to a nationally recognized television personality.
Marge and Phil married in 1958 and had five children together: Michael, Kevin, Daniel, James, and Mary Rose. Their marriage lasted until 1975. After the divorce, their four sons primarily lived with Phil, while Mary Rose moved with Marge to New Mexico.
What happened afterward is less clear. Marge largely disappeared from national publicity, while Phil became a television icon and later married actress Marlo Thomas. That privacy has unfortunately allowed incorrect birth dates, careers, death records, and even another woman’s obituary to become attached to Marge online.
Who Was Marge Cooney?
Marge Cooney was the first wife of Phil Donahue and the mother of all five of his children.
Reliable biographical accounts commonly identify her as Margaret Cooney, while Marge was the shorter name by which she became known in stories about Donahue’s family.
She knew Phil before his greatest television success.
That makes her an important part of his early story.
When they married, he had not yet created the audience-centered television format that would eventually influence generations of talk-show hosts.
Marge instead experienced the uncertain early years of broadcasting with him.
Was Her Full Name Margaret Mary Cooney?
Some sources identify Phil Donahue’s first wife as Margaret Mary Cooney.
However, this name creates an unusual research problem.
There were obviously other women named Margaret Mary Cooney, and one unrelated woman’s 2018 obituary has been repeatedly attached to Phil’s former wife by online biography sites.
The unrelated woman was born in 1925, lived in New Jersey and Florida, was married to John David Cooney Sr., and had children with names that do not match the Donahue family.
Those details clearly show that she was not Phil Donahue’s first wife.
This is why information about Marge’s birth and death needs particular care.
When Was Marge Cooney Born?
Marge Cooney’s exact birth date is not firmly established in the strongest readily available public sources.
Several websites claim she was born in 1935 or 1936.
Others give locations that conflict with established accounts connecting her family to New Mexico.
Without a dependable original record, those dates should not be presented as certain.
What is much better documented is that she and Phil were young when they married in 1958.
Phil himself was born on December 21, 1935.
But his birth year should not simply be assigned to Marge.
Where Was Marge Cooney From?
Reliable biographical accounts connect Marge strongly with New Mexico, particularly Albuquerque.
After her divorce from Phil, she returned to New Mexico with their daughter Mary Rose. Contemporary reporting described New Mexico as her home connection rather than the New Jersey background incorrectly repeated by some modern websites.
This is another reason the popular 2018 New Jersey obituary does not fit.
The deceased woman in that notice had a completely different family history.
Marge’s genuine early-life details, including her parents and schooling, remain much less documented.
How Did Marge Cooney Meet Phil Donahue?
Marge and Phil were young sweethearts before his television fame.
Biographical accounts describe Marge as Phil’s college-era sweetheart, and Biography.com reports that the couple met while Phil was in college.
Phil attended the University of Notre Dame and graduated in 1957 with a business degree.
Broadcasting quickly became his real interest.
He started working in radio and television during an era when neither he nor Marge could have predicted just how famous he would eventually become.
Their relationship therefore began before celebrity changed their lives.
A natural related article would be Phil Donahue’s early life before his groundbreaking daytime talk show.
When Did Marge Cooney Marry Phil Donahue?
Marge and Phil married in 1958.
Their marriage would last approximately 17 years.
During that period, their lives changed dramatically.
They became parents five times.
Phil moved through different broadcasting jobs.
His career eventually took the family to Ohio, where he developed the television program that would transform his professional life.
By the time their marriage ended, Phil Donahue was no longer simply an ambitious local broadcaster.
He had become a national television personality.
How Many Children Did Marge and Phil Have?
Marge and Phil had five children.
They were:
Michael Donahue, Kevin Donahue, Daniel Donahue, James Donahue, and Mary Rose Donahue.
Four were sons.
Mary Rose was their only daughter.
All five children were born during Marge and Phil’s marriage.
This is important because Phil’s second wife, actress Marlo Thomas, is sometimes incorrectly described online as the children’s mother.
She was their stepmother.
Marge was their biological mother.
What Was Family Life Like During Phil Donahue’s Early Career?
Phil’s career demanded increasing amounts of time.
Broadcasting rarely operates on a predictable family schedule, and his professional ambitions continued to grow as the children were growing up.
The family lived for a period in Centerville, Ohio, near Dayton.
Interestingly, one of their neighbors was humorist Erma Bombeck, who would herself become nationally famous for writing about suburban family life.
Phil’s broadcasting breakthrough came in Dayton.
In 1967, he began hosting a morning television program that eventually became The Phil Donahue Show.
The format was unusual.
Instead of sitting safely behind a desk and simply interviewing celebrities, Donahue moved among the audience and invited ordinary people to ask questions.
It changed daytime television.
Marge Was There Before Donahue Became a National Success
This part of the timeline is easy to overlook.
Marge married Phil in 1958.
His groundbreaking Dayton talk show did not begin until 1967.
That means they had already been married for almost a decade when his most important professional opportunity arrived.
The program entered national syndication in 1970.
By the end of the decade, it had become one of America’s dominant syndicated daytime programs.
Marge therefore experienced both sides of Phil’s career.
She knew the young broadcaster trying to establish himself.
Then she watched him become famous.
Fame, however, did not guarantee that the marriage would survive.
When Did Marge and Phil Separate?
Their relationship became troubled during the early 1970s.
Later accounts describe an on-and-off separation rather than one sudden break.
There was reportedly an effort at reconciliation, but the marriage eventually ended permanently after the family’s move from the Dayton area toward Chicago.
By 1975, the divorce was final.
The timing was significant.
Phil’s television career was becoming increasingly successful at almost exactly the same time that his marriage was falling apart.
Professional success and personal happiness were clearly not the same thing.
Why Did Marge Cooney and Phil Donahue Divorce?
There is no responsible way to reduce a 17-year marriage to one dramatic explanation.
Contemporary reporting described separation, reconciliation attempts, and another eventual split.
Phil himself acknowledged that he brought difficulties into relationships and did not pretend that being admired on television meant he was a perfect husband at home.
What is important is that contemporary descriptions did not portray the divorce as a huge public war.
There was no famous celebrity courtroom battle.
There was no decades-long public attack between them.
Instead, the family reorganized after the marriage ended.
And that produced an unusual custody arrangement.
Who Got Custody of the Five Children?
After the divorce, Phil’s four sons lived primarily with him, while their daughter Mary Rose went with Marge to New Mexico.
The sons were Michael, Kevin, Daniel, and James.
Phil therefore became a single father responsible for four boys while simultaneously hosting one of America’s most demanding television programs.
He later spoke openly about the difficulties.
His career required travel and long hours.
He worried that he was entertaining millions of television viewers while potentially missing what was happening inside his own home.
Marge’s life followed a quieter path with Mary Rose.
Who Is Mary Rose Donahue?
Mary Rose was Phil and Marge’s only daughter.
Following the divorce, she lived with her mother in New Mexico.
She has generally maintained a much lower public profile than her famous father.
This is important when discussing Marge because Mary Rose remained one of the strongest family connections in her post-divorce life.
Marge should not be viewed simply as a woman who disappeared after leaving a celebrity.
She remained a mother.
Her life just stopped being extensively documented by the national media.
What Happened to the Four Donahue Sons?
Michael, Kevin, Daniel, and James lived primarily with Phil after the divorce.
Their father occasionally discussed the difficulties of combining single parenthood with national television.
The children themselves did not become celebrity personalities on the scale of their father.
Sadly, the youngest son, James “Jim” Donahue, died in 2014 from an aortic aneurysm. Biography.com identifies him as the one child who died before Phil.
When Phil died in 2024, four of his five children survived him: Michael, Kevin, Daniel, and Mary Rose.
A useful internal-link opportunity would be Phil Donahue’s five children and their lives away from television.
Did Marge Cooney Remarry?
Yes, there is credible contemporary evidence that Marge later remarried.
A profile published after the Donahue divorce reported that she had moved to New Mexico and had since remarried.
However, the identity of her later husband is not prominently established in strong mainstream reporting.
This is where a careful biography should stop.
It would be easy to search public databases for people with similar names and attach the wrong husband to her.
The existence of a later marriage is supported.
The detailed identity and history of that marriage are much less clear.
Did Phil Donahue Remarry?
Yes.
Phil’s second marriage became much more famous.
In 1977, actress Marlo Thomas appeared as a guest on his television show.
Their chemistry was immediately noticeable.
They eventually married on May 21, 1980 and remained together until Phil’s death in 2024.
Phil and Marlo did not have biological children together.
Instead, Marlo became stepmother to the five children from his marriage to Marge.
Did Marlo Thomas Replace Marge as the Children’s Mother?
No.
Marlo Thomas has spoken thoughtfully about becoming part of a family that already had a mother.
Rather than trying to erase that relationship, she developed her own connection with Phil’s children.
This distinction matters.
Marge remained their biological mother.
Marlo became an important stepmother.
Both relationships could exist without one replacing the other.
It is therefore inaccurate to describe Michael, Kevin, Daniel, James, or Mary Rose as biological children of Marlo Thomas.
A natural internal-link opportunity would be Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue’s 44-year marriage and blended family.
Was Marge Cooney a Famous Writer?
There is no strong evidence that Phil Donahue’s former wife had the literary career attributed to her by some modern websites.
Recent online profiles have called her a writer, novelist, journalist, or literary figure.
But those claims generally fail a basic test.
Where are the books?
Where are the publishers?
Where are the original newspaper bylines?
Where are the contemporary reviews?
Without such evidence, a major writing career should not be invented.
Marge’s documented importance comes from her family story, not from a proven literary résumé.
Was Marge Cooney a Television Personality?
No substantial acting or television-hosting career is reliably documented for her.
She was married to someone who became one of television’s most influential hosts.
That does not make her a television personality herself.
Marge largely remained outside the entertainment business.
This difference became even greater after the divorce.
Phil’s visibility increased.
Marge’s decreased.
The 2018 Death Claim Is Probably About the Wrong Woman
One of the biggest problems in online articles about Marge concerns her supposed death.
Numerous websites claim she died on February 2, 2018, sometimes adding that she was living in Sea Girt, New Jersey, or at Brandywine at Wall.
There really was a Margaret Mary Cooney who died there on that date.
But her obituary identifies her as a 92-year-old woman born in West Orange, New Jersey, the daughter of Francis and Mary McGuirk and the widow of John David Cooney Sr. Her children were also entirely different from Phil Donahue’s five children.
This is compelling evidence that the obituary belongs to another woman.
Therefore, February 2, 2018 should not be confidently presented as Marge Cooney Donahue’s death date.
Is Marge Cooney Still Alive?
There is another important piece of evidence.
By the time Phil Donahue died in August 2024, some obituary coverage referred to his first wife Margaret as having already died.
So it appears that Marge died sometime before Phil.
However, a confidently matched public record establishing her exact date, location, age, and cause of death is difficult to verify.
The responsible conclusion is therefore:
Marge Cooney appears to have died before 2024, but the commonly repeated February 2, 2018 New Jersey obituary belongs to another woman.
This is a better answer than giving readers a precise but incorrect date.
What Was Marge Cooney’s Net Worth?
Marge Cooney’s individual net worth is not reliably documented.
She did not maintain the type of public business career that allows journalists to estimate assets.
Her divorce from Phil occurred in 1975, and detailed financial terms have not become a major part of credible reporting.
Likewise, Phil’s later television earnings should not simply be assigned to Marge.
Any website claiming she was worth a precise number of millions needs evidence beyond repeating estimates from other celebrity sites.
Without that evidence, her net worth remains unknown.
Why Does Marge Cooney Still Interest People?
Part of the answer is Phil Donahue’s enormous influence.
His television format helped change American daytime programming.
Instead of treating viewers as passive observers, he brought audience members directly into conversations.
The subjects could be difficult.
Race.
Religion.
Women’s rights.
Sexuality.
Politics.
War.
Social change.
His willingness to explore controversial issues helped create a model later associated with hosts such as Oprah Winfrey.
Reuters described him as a pioneer whose approach helped reshape daytime television.
People naturally want to know about the family behind such a famous broadcaster.
And Marge was there before most of that fame arrived.
Marge Knew a Very Different Phil Donahue
The Phil Donahue who married Marge was not yet the man receiving major television awards.
He was not yet a household name.
He had only recently finished college and was trying to establish a broadcasting career.
Their marriage then followed him through his rise.
They became parents five times.
They lived in Ohio.
They watched his local program become increasingly successful.
Then national syndication arrived.
By the time their marriage ended, celebrity had become part of the family’s everyday reality.
Marge experienced a version of Phil’s life that most viewers never saw.
Phil’s Life After Their Divorce
Phil continued hosting Donahue for decades.
The program eventually moved from Chicago to New York and remained nationally influential until its original run ended in 1996.
He won numerous Emmy Awards and became a member of the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
He later returned to television with a short-lived MSNBC program and co-directed Body of War, a documentary focused on an Iraq War veteran.
In May 2024, President Joe Biden awarded Donahue the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Just a few months later, on August 18, 2024, Phil died at age 88 following an illness.
He was survived by Marlo Thomas and four of his five children.
Marge’s Quiet Life Created an Internet Information Problem
Marge Cooney’s biography demonstrates something important about modern celebrity research.
When a person lives privately, there are gaps.
Search engines do not like gaps.
Biography websites do not like gaps either.
So details sometimes get borrowed from another person.
One site publishes them.
Another copies them.
Then another.
Eventually, an incorrect claim can appear on dozens of pages.
That seems to be what happened with the unrelated 2018 Margaret Mary Cooney obituary.
The correct response is not to find more websites repeating the claim.
It is to compare the underlying family information.
Once that is done, the mismatch becomes obvious.
Interesting Facts About Marge Cooney
Marge was Phil Donahue’s first wife and knew him before he became nationally famous.
They married in 1958 and remained married for approximately 17 years.
They had five children: four sons and one daughter.
After their divorce, Phil’s four sons lived primarily with him, while Mary Rose lived with Marge in New Mexico.
Marge later remarried, although details of that marriage remained private.
Phil married Marlo Thomas in 1980, and they remained together for 44 years.
Marge did not have a reliably documented career as an actress, famous author, or television personality.
And the widely circulated 2018 New Jersey obituary belongs to a different Margaret Mary Cooney.
Final Thoughts
Marge Cooney was part of Phil Donahue’s life long before millions of Americans knew his name.
They married in 1958.
They built a family of five children.
And they spent approximately 17 years together while Phil moved from an ambitious young broadcaster toward national television fame.
Then their lives separated.
Their divorce became final in 1975. Marge returned to New Mexico with their daughter Mary Rose, while the four boys primarily lived with Phil.
Marge later remarried.
But she did not follow Phil into a public celebrity life.
Phil eventually found another lasting relationship with Marlo Thomas, whom he married in 1980.
Marge remained connected to the story through the five children she and Phil shared.
Her privacy is also why modern biographies need to be careful.
Her exact birth date is not firmly established.
Her independent profession is not clearly documented.
Her later husband’s identity is not prominent in reliable reporting.
Her personal net worth is unknown.
And most importantly, the frequently repeated claim that she died on February 2, 2018 in New Jersey appears to come from an entirely different woman’s obituary.
Marge’s real story does not need invented details.
She was Phil Donahue’s college-era sweetheart, his first wife, and the mother of his five children.
She experienced his difficult early broadcasting years and the beginning of his remarkable rise.
Then, when their marriage ended, she chose a life almost entirely outside the national spotlight.
That quieter story may be less dramatic than some versions circulating online.
But it is far more credible.
For more carefully researched celebrity biographies and family stories, visit Charles Magazine.
FAQs About Marge Cooney
Who was Marge Cooney?
Marge Cooney, also known as Margaret Cooney, was the first wife of pioneering television host Phil Donahue. They married in 1958 and divorced in 1975.
How many children did Marge Cooney have?
Marge and Phil had five children: Michael, Kevin, Daniel, James, and Mary Rose Donahue.
Why did Marge Cooney and Phil Donahue divorce?
No single authoritative reason fully explains their divorce. Contemporary accounts describe periods of separation and attempted reconciliation before the marriage finally ended in 1975.
Did Marge Cooney remarry?
Yes. Contemporary reporting says Marge moved to New Mexico and later remarried, although details about her later husband were kept largely private.
Did Marge Cooney die in 2018?
The February 2, 2018 obituary commonly linked to Marge actually describes a different Margaret Mary Cooney—a 92-year-old New Jersey woman with a different husband, parents, and children. It should not be used as proof of Marge’s death date.
Was Marge Cooney an author?
There is no reliable evidence establishing Phil Donahue’s first wife as the famous writer or novelist described by some modern biography websites.
Who was Phil Donahue’s second wife?
Phil married actress Marlo Thomas in 1980. They remained married until his death in August 2024 and had no biological children together.
