Donald A. Borja earned his undergraduate degree from Old Dominion University in 1969 and his master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to sculpture he also achieved success as a choreographer, musician, and stage set designer.
Borja works for the Army's Institute of Heraldry, which designs medals, seals, badges and monuments commemorating historic people, places and events. He designed a relief-sculpture of Navy Vice Admiral James Stockdale, the longest held POW in Vietnam. The sculpture is on a plaque that's presented to fleet commanders in the Pacific. Borja has been called "the keeper" of the President's seal. He created the model for the oval-shaped White House seal that is seen on TV when the President speaks to the nation. The Pentagon also uses a Borja-designed plaque for appearances by the Secretary of Defense.
Borja's most famous work is probably the Challenger crew memorial on Arlington National Cemetery. It commemorates the crew of the space shuttle Challenger which exploded during take-off on January 28, 1986. The park service estimates that the Challenger crew memorial is its second most-visited site, behind only the eternal-flame memorial for President Kennedy.
Borja created notable portrait medallions of such figures as Ernest Hemingway and Frank Lloyd Wright as well as a three-dimensional abstract medallion incorporating a likeness of the president of his alma mater, now used as an award for world statesmen.
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