A literary agent, Donadio’s first task in the business in 1957 was to bring Joseph Heller’s first novel, Catch 18 to the world. However, since Leon Uris had just released a novel titled Mila 18, Heller’s was renamed to Catch-22 *, based on Donadio’s birthday (October 22) — and a catchphrase was born.
She also worked with other big-name writers, including Thomas Pynchon, William Gaddis, and Mario Puzo. Donadio died January 20 from cancer. She was 71.