Daniel Joseph Lanahan

Dan’s 82 years of life were filled with an array of diverse interests, pursuits, and passions. Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Dan had grit, street smarts and an entrepreneurial spirit. Raised in a large Irish Catholic family in Park Slope, he was the youngest of seven children and the only son of Daniel and Mary (McGuire) Lanahan. His family owned a local corner bar and grill aptly named Lanahan’s Bar. Having six older sisters, a wife that was a mathematician and later three daughters, he had great respect for women and was known to frequently say “women are smarter than men.”

His first job was riding a bike making deliveries for the local butcher shop. He later worked for the New York Public Library collecting overdue books. Dan attended grade school at Saint Saviour where he first met a smart girl, Suzanne, that would become his wife of 60 years. Himself not a particularly stellar nor well-behaved student, he would boast that his most memorable accomplishment while attending Erasamus High School was being a classmate of Barbara Streisand.

Dan proudly served in the United States Army first as an MP at Fort Gordon and then as a nuclear missile and special weapons specialist at Fort Tilden. But the role he relished, was being a trustee for the NCO Club which allowed him to dole out memberships to his friends. While in the Army, he attended college.

He and his life-long love Suzanne married on August 18, 1962 and shortly thereafter headed west to Northern California. Dan was an insurance claims manager working with lawyers to resolve claims. This spurred an interest in a legal career and led to him attending San Francisco law School at night. As a trial attorney, he found most rewarding and challenging his work defending mass tort litigation because it was complex, novel, and allowed him to work with clients and lawyers across the nation and internationally. Plus, all the traveling earned him million miles status on United. What he was proudest of professionally, was mentoring young lawyers and seeing their success.

During his early years as an attorney, Dan worked as a reserve police officer to keep himself occupied at night. He loved putting on his uniform, heading to the station and the camaraderie with his fellow reserve officers. Ultimately, he became their leader as the Reserve Police Director.

Dan’s hobbies and interests were many and varied. He enjoyed horseback riding, boating, duck and pheasant hunting, fishing, betting on the ponies and playing golf when his game was good. He was an avid reader and could easily finish several novels a week. The genres he most enjoyed were mysteries, thrillers and historical. He was a huge history buff. He had enormous knowledge of military history. Dan never skipped a museum or battlefield. During his travels he amassed an impressive regiment of metal toy soldiers, many of which he tediously painted himself, housed in a six feet tall glass cabinet.

All that knew Dan were aware of his passion for travelling the world. Proud of his Irish heritage and ancestry, Ireland was a place he traveled to often. He could be found searching graveyards for the headstones of past relatives. He was the keeper of a massive family tree that had to be unraveled and spread across a table to read. Dan went to all of the continents with the exception of Antarctica. Some of his most unusual and interesting adventures were a cruise from Istanbul to Dubai highlighted by a visit to Israel and the Holy Land, riding a camel in Petra, and visiting the Valley of the Kings in Luxor.

Later in his life, Dan became interested in teaching. He wrote and published a book, Legendary Trials, which he used to teach courses at Empire Law School, San Francisco Law School and Sonoma State University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

Dan will be remembered for his extensive community service. He dedicated endless hours serving on boards of directors including the North. Bay Leadership Council, California Rural Broadcasting Corp. (KRCB), Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital Foundation and the finale campaign that raised funds to complete construction of The Green Music Center. For his dedication and contributions to his community he received the James B. and Billie Keegan Leadership Award, was honored by the Council on Aging and was bestowed an Honorary Doctor of Laws by Sonoma State University. The law firm he co-founded, Lanahan & Reilley LLP, was one of the early members of the Celebrate Community,  a partnership of business and nonprofits making Sonoma County stronger and better.

His family remembers Dan as an adventurer, storyteller, mentor, loving and supportive husband and father, true gentleman and loyal SF Giants fan. They admire him for his wisdom, sage advice, fairness, generosity with his time, knowledge and ideas and quietly helping those in need. They describe him as well-read, clever, scholarly, upstanding, cultured, and stalwart (meaning loyal, strong and reliable). His happy place was Puerto Vallarta where he found peace and contentment basking in the sun, reading for hours and listening to the ocean.

Dan’s legacy is his family. He will be greatly missed by his wife of 60 years, Suzanne and his son Daniel Lanahan lll, as well as his three daughters and their spouses, Mary and Doug Derner, Karen and David Frank, Maureen and Jerry Hunter; grandchildren Christopher (Danielle) Derner, Timothy (Alexandra) Derner, Matthew (Gabbi) Derner, Kayla Frank, David Frank, Jane Hunter and John Hunter; his great- grandchildren Harlynn, Lane, Liam and Maddox Derner and numerous nieces and nephews in both New York and California.

Dan will be honored at a Memorial Mass on Saturday, September 17 at 11:00 a.m. at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 1244 St. Francis Rd. Santa Rosa, CA 95409.  In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital Foundation.

Holy Spirit Catholic Church