Gerald Gilbert Sherry, son of James Thomas and Mary Louise Brady Sherry, was born in Putnam, Connecticut, on September 13, 1915, the third of six children (five brothers and one sister). He grew up in Taunton, Massachusetts, where he attended St. Mary's Grammar School, 1920 to 1929, and St. Mary's High School, 1929 to 1933. Following a year of studies at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, Gilbert Sherry transferred to Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island, graduating in 1938 with an A.B. in philosophy.

On September 11, 1938, he entered the Dominican Order at St. Rose Priory in Springfield, Kentucky, receiving the habit and the religious name of Donald, and made his first profession there on September 12, 1939. Philosophical and theological studies followed at the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois, with the granting of the S.T.Lr. degree in 1942 and the Ph.D. in philosophy in 1946. On March 23, 1945, he was ordained to the priesthood at the Dominican House of Studies Chapel by the Most Reverend William D. O'Brien, Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago.

Father Sherry's first assignment was as professor of philosophy at DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, where he taught from 1946 to 1956. In 1956, he was elected prior at St. Pius V Priory in Chicago, Illinois, and subsequently appointed pastor of St. Pius V Parish there, in which offices he served until 1962. He was then appointed superior and pastor of St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in River Forest, Illinois. In 1964, he was elected first prior by the St. Vincent Ferrer Dominican community and served there until 1970. During this time, he continued teaching on a part-time basis, offering courses in ethics to the nurses at St. Anthony's, Mercy, and Little Company of Mary Hospitals.

During 1970, which Father Sherry had scheduled for a sabbatical, his father had a stroke, and he asked that his next ministry be in the East so that he might assist his aging parents. Permission was granted, and from late 1970 to 1975, he served as professor of philosophy and religious studies at Mount Saint Joseph College and offered pastoral assistance at St. Raymond 's Dominican Parish in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where his parents lived.

Even while caring for his parents, his own health began to deteriorate, requiring surgery for several ruptured and fused spinal discs and to alleviate pressure on his spina l column. In addition to his physical disability, Mount St. Joseph College closed, thus limiting his ministry to parish work. After his parents' deaths in the late 1970's, his own health problems continued, including an operation for cancer, followed by chemotherapy treatments. For the next several years he remained in the East, assisting with pastoral ministry at St. Barnabas Church in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, on a limited basis. In 1988, he returned to Pawtucket where he lived with his brother, Roger or, when ill health demanded, in a nursing home. In late 1989, following visits and encouragement by the Provincial and Socius, he indicated his wish to return to the Province and thus moved to the Priory of St. Dominic and St. Thomas in River Forest, Illinois. His health continued to deteriorate, requiring hospitalization shortly before his death on June 4, 1990.

On Thursday, June 7, many of his Dominican brothers who had gathered for a Provincial Assembly preceding the Thirteenth Provincial Chapter of the Province of St. Albert the Great, concelebrated the Mass of the Resurrection for him at St. Vincent Ferrer Church in River Forest, Illinois. He was then moved to St. Barnabas Church in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, where a funeral Mass was celebrated on Saturday, June 9, 1990. Burial followed in the family plot at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in East Providence, Rhode Island.