Died: February 24, 1991
David Gordon Hanes died on February 24, 1991 in Millbrook, New York. He was the son of John Wesley and Hope Yandell Hanes. A native of New York City, David attended the Buckley School, Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University, graduating there in 1966. He spent three years in the Marine Corps, with an honorable discharge as Second Lieutenant, returning to Yale to graduate magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He majored in History of the Arts and Letters, an intensive interdisciplinary study, for which he won the History Prize in 1966. His thesis, “The First British Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1868” was consequently published by the Yale University Press. He was proud of the achievement, but liked to joke that the book was a guaranteed cure for insomnia. David’s father John W., and brother, John Hanes, Jr. also graduated from Yale. David entered Columbia Law School in the Fall of 1966, made Law Review, earning his J.D. in 1969. He then proceed to Washington, DC, where his distinguished career in the law began. He clerked for two years for Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, which marked the beginning of the Burger Court. Following this high point, he joined the firm of Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering, working initially on the massive Penn Central bankruptcy. In 1974 he became assistant to John Doar, then special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee for the Nixon impeachment proceedings. Having thus gained unique experience in the judicial and legislative branches of government, David was recruited to serve as counsel and administrative assistant to Frank Zarb, then head of the Federal Energy Agency and the first United States Energy Czar, under President Gerald Ford. In private practice again by 1977, David together with William Colby, former head of the CIA, and Marshall Miller formed the law firm of Colby, Miller and Hanes with offices in Washington DC. This firm later merged with the New York firm of Reid and Priest. He retired from the practice of law in 1987 to join a family investment partnership in Alexandria, VA. David had a brilliant mind, a great work ethic, and a large and loving family. He was admired for his skills as an outdoorsman, his camaraderie, and provocative sense of humor. He was a staunch Republican, a great fan and supporter of William Buckley, and an enthusiast of political satire, especially the writings of H.L. Mencken.
David was happily married to Ann Gulliver for twenty five years. They raised their two children, Allison and Jonathan in Washington, DC. Today his children are the proud parents of five boys, David’s grandsons, ages 6-11.