Richard G. Dunnells ’59
Richard G. Dunnells ’59 died on March 6. He entered Dartmouth from Paul D. Shreiber High School in Port Washington, New York, majored in English, and was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon (president his senior year) and Sphinx. Following graduation Dick was commissioned in the Navy and served for three years as an intelligence officer. He earned a law degree from the University of Virginia Law School in 1967 and became an associate at Hogan & Hartson in Washington, D.C. He worked in Nelson Rockefeller’s presidential campaign in 1968, supported Sen. John Warner (R-Virginia) in transition planning, and served in several positions in the Nixon administration, including as assistant secretary for housing management in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He left HUD in 1973 and was cofounder of a law firm bearing his name. Dick’s law practice focused on federally regulated housing, and he was a member of the Reagan administration’s commission on housing. His firm grew from four lawyers to approximately 75 before being acquired by Holland & Knight in 1994. Dick was instrumental in Holland & Knight’s growth to a firm with more than 1,000 lawyers in the United States and abroad. He retired in 2004. He was an avid fisherman and raised cattle on a farm in Pennsylvania. He was predeceased by his wife of 56 years, Geni, and their oldest daughter, Darah. He leaves daughter Dana, three grandchildren, and siblings Carole, Tom, and Jerome.
