| Oregon State Bar Bulletin — DECEMBER 2007 |
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Dana Anderson, senior assistant attorney general and chief construction lawyer for the state of Oregon, passed away Aug. 30, 2007, at age 57. Anderson was chair of the OSB Construction Law Section at the time of his death.
Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Anderson had an early desire to become a lawyer. He graduated from the University of Oregon, then received a law degree from Willamette University College of Law and was admitted to the Oregon State Bar in 1975. His practice focused on government law, but he eventually specialized in the field of public construction, public improvements and public works.
Anderson played a role in some of the state’s largest public construction projects, and he had a hand in creating the Oregon Public Contraction Code in 2003. He also worked on revisions of the code in subsequent legislative sessions in his role at the attorney general’s office.
Anderson’s personal interests included travel, live theater and comparing construction projects with his wife, Nancy, who works on private commercial enterprises.
He is survived by his wife and son.
Fifty-year bar member and former OSB president Howard A. Rankin passed away Sept. 28, 2007, after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s. He was 87.
Rankin was raised in Topeka, Kan., where his father was an attorney with the Kansas Department of Justice. In high school, Rankin was president of his class and a member of the debate team. He attended the University of Kansas, where he earned a B.S. in business. As the president of his college fraternity, he helped initiate future senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole.
Rankin enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1941, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant commander in his duties as chief navigator on several troop transport ships, including the USS Mt. Vernon and the USS Kenmore in the South Pacific. After the war, he met and married Alice Joy Eschman, and returned to the University of Kansas for a law degree.
The Rankins headed West in search of a home and ended up in Portland. They were attracted to the natural beauty and blossoming city. Rankin joined and became senior partner of the firm, Rankin, Mersereau and Shannon, which celebrated its 100th year during his tenure. While there he pioneered and refined the practice of municipal bond and finance law.
Rankin served as president of the OSB (1974-75) and as a member and chairman of the Board of Bar Examiners (1959). He was also president of the Multnomah Bar Association (1971). Rankin was a pro-tem circuit judge in Multnomah County (1969-72) and an adjunct professor of public finance at Lewis & Clark Northwestern School of Law (1980-85). His longtime memberships also included the National Association of Bond Lawyers and the Rotary Club of Portland.
He played sports in high school and college and continued to play tennis well into his 70s. Rankin spent his final years practicing law with Ater Wynne, from which he retired in 1997, to take care of his wife, who passed away in June of 2002. He continued a small private practice to become a 50-year member of the Oregon State Bar.
Rankin is survived by four sons, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Dennis J. Lindsay retired senior partner of Lindsay, Hart, Neil & Weigler, passed away at the age of 89 on Oct. 2, 2007. His death followed complications from a stroke suffered in April 2006.
He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1920. Along with his brother, Lindsay supported himself through field and factory work in the summers, delivering telegrams and grading papers. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Oberlin College.
Lindsay earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. He worked for the Department of the Interior. He then spent five years with the Wall Street firm of Cahill Gordon before coming to Oregon. He was admitted to the Oregon State Bar in 1948. (He claimed to be the last lawyer admitted in Oregon on motion before the effective date of the new requirement that out-of-state lawyers had to take an examination.)
Lindsay’s first job in Oregon was as a deputy Multnomah County district attorney under John McCourt. He was hired by Krause, Evans and Korn in 1950 (the firm’s later names included Krause Lindsay and Nahstoll, and then Lindsay, Hart, Neil & Weigler LLP). He became a partner in 1952. He developed specialties in admiralty and in maritime labor relations law, representing stevedore and grain industry employers.
Lindsay served on the Port of Portland Commission from 1957 to 1970, including eight years as its chair. In that role he was instrumental in the rapid expansion of the Portland International Airport. He also served on the Portland Development Commission, the Port of Coos Bay Commission and as a special counsel to U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Neil Goldschmidt during the Carter administration. He was a lifelong supporter of Democratic candidates and causes, a member of the Portland City Club and a 50-year member of the Multnomah Athletic Club.
During his 56 years of practice with the firm, Lindsay hired and served as a mentor to dozens of lawyers who became eminent practitioners in his or other firms and appellate and trial court judges. Those lawyers included the late Carol Hewitt, hired in 1970, who was the first female attorney to be employed on a partnership track by a so-called "establishment" law firm in Portland.
Lindsay is survived by his wife, the former Sandra Barrett, and four children, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Long-time Salem attorney Daniel A. Ritter died peacefully on Oct. 11, 2007, of esophageal cancer.
Ritter was born March 19, 1940, in Seattle and had lived in Salem since 1954. Following his B.A. degree from the University of San Francisco in 1962, he received his J.D. degree summa cum laude from Willamette University College of Law in 1965 and his master of laws in taxation from New York University in 1968.
Admitted to the bar in 1965, he served on the OSB Board of Governors from 1992 to 1995. He was also a member of the Marion County Bar Association, the Willamette Valley Estate Planning Council and was elected a fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel in 1988. He was a founder of the Willamette Valley Inns of Court, and he served as an adjunct professor of law at Willamette University for over 10 years. Ritter was also listed as a specialist in trusts and estates in The Best Lawyers in America.
Following his admission to the bar, Ritter joined Roy Harland in his Salem law practice. They worked together in the fields of tax and estate planning until Harland’s death in 1988. The next year, Ritter began sharing office space with Graves and Hilgemann. In July 2007, he joined with partner Joe Hobson to form Ritter Hobson LLC, where he worked until his death.
Ritter lent his time and expertise to many organizations, including as a member of the distribution committee of the Salem Foundation, as a board member of Salem Hospital Foundation, Salem Library, Catholic Charities of Oregon, Salem Catholic Schools Foundation and Sunriver Owners Association. He also served as a member of the Boys and Girls Club Foundation and the St. Francis Shelter advisory board.
Ritter is survived by his wife, Armande, four children and four grandchildren.
Dennis Henninger, a Lake Oswego personal injury and workers’ compensation attorney, died Oct. 15, 2007, of cancer at age 68.
Henninger was born in Pasco, Wash. As a boy he lived in Prineville and Albany and graduated from Albany High School in 1956. Henninger then enlisted in the Army. He served in Texas and Korea from 1957 to 1960. After his discharge, he attended Portland State University, then Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College while working for Standard Oil Co.
A self-employed attorney, Henninger was a member of the Oregon State Bar, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the American Trial Lawyers Association. He was an active member in Tualatin Rotary and was named a Paul Harris fellow. He worked with Franciscan Enterprises to rehabilitate homes in North Portland, and with St. Vincent de Paul’s food bank. He also taught English-as-a-second-language classes at church and sang in the church choir and the University of Portland Community Choir.
Survivors include his wife of 41 years, the former Linda Horton, two sons and four grandchildren.
Frank Oscar Diarmitof Brownstein, Rask, Sweeney, Kerr, Grim, DeSylvia & Hay passed away Oct. 17, 2007, of cancer.
Diarmit graduated with honors from Oregon College of Education (now known as Western Oregon University) with a degree in secondary education in 1971. He then earned an MBA from Portland State University in 1977, and followed that with a J.D. from Willamette University School of Law in 1981. He was admitted to the bar shortly thereafter. Still not satisfied, he completed his formal education by obtaining a master’s of law, in taxation, from New York University in 1987.
Diarmit taught accounting, taxation and business law at Pacific University from 1982 to 1985, then began practicing law with Rhoten Speerstra, et al. In 1987, he moved to the Neihaus Hanna firm, where he worked until 1992. In October of 1992, he began working at Brownstein Rask Sweeney, where he stayed until his death.
Diarmit’s grasp of tax law earned him high praise from his fellow attorneys. Dick Brownstein once said, "You could take his conclusions to the bank," and referred to him as the firm’s "No. 1 tax lawyer."
Diarmit’s main passions in life were his family, his martial arts and his practice of law. He considered integrity to be essential in all areas of life and was known as a man you could trust. He was also known for his deep, gravely voice, quick wit and brilliant deductions in and out of the courtroom.
Diarmit’s love of martial arts led him to practice, teach and volunteer in the American Judo and Jujitsu Federation. He was a Godan (5th degree black belt) and was known in the AJJF as the "Gentle Giant."
Diarmit also enjoyed music, the arts, woodworking, photography, teaching, cooking, baking bread, enjoying nature, reading and the television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Diarmit is survived by his wife, Yvette.