Born 1926 in Clinton, Iowa, Donald Torr earned his BA, MA, and Ph.D. in education at Washington University in St. Louis. He began working for the Air Force in personnel research and training in 1950, and in 1959 was hired by General Electric to work on training and information systems operation. In 1967, he was made managing director of the Educational Technology Center of the Sterling Institute.

Dr. Torr was hired by Gallaudet in 1969 as a professor of education. Soon after his arrival at Gallaudet, he suggested the installation of a campus cable television system with live captioning, and also consulted with the Public Broadcasting System on the development of captioning technology. He was promoted to Director of the Office of Educational Technology, and later became Assistant Vice President for College Educational Resources. He was named Faculty/Staff Member of the Month for September 1989.

Dr. Torr retired from Gallaudet in 1991 and passed away in 2021.