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This site has been visited 661 times.Personal Background
Donald Hardy Shaw
(June 1, 1922 – April 21, 2008)
Donald Hardy Shaw, of Columbia, Maryland and a native of the State of Iowa, died on April 21, 2008 from complications of injuries he received in Aspen, Colorado when hit by snow sliding from a building roof. He was 85.
Born June 1, 1922 in Oelwein, Iowa, Mr. Shaw attended Oelwein public schools and Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he completed his class work at age 19 and was graduated with honors. At Harvard, he was awarded the Philo Sherman Bennett prize for the most outstanding senior thesis in government and economics (a prize received two years before by John F. Kennedy for the thesis later published as While England Slept).
With the onset of World War II, Mr. Shaw enlisted in the United States Army. He received Army Air Corps statistical officer training at the Harvard Business School and served for most of the war as a Captain with Col. Robert McNamara, among others, in the Statistical Control Unit of the Twentieth Air Force near Calcutta, India.
In 1946, Mr. Shaw met and married his wife of 61 years, the former Elizabeth Jean (“Betty”) Orr of Monona, Iowa. The two of them attended law school together at the University of Iowa Law School, where Mr. Shaw served as editor-in-chief of the Iowa Law Review and was awarded the Order of the Coif.
After law school, Mr. Shaw practiced corporate finance and securities law with the large Chicago-based firm of Sidley & Austin. In 1956, he and his wife returned to Iowa, where Mr. Shaw joined Davenport-based Iowa-Illinois Gas & Electric Company, an investor-owned electric and gas utility. For most of his career, Mr. Shaw served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and a director of that company. He handled all financial and benefits matters for the company during his tenure, and was widely respected for his expertise in public-company corporate finance and utility ratemaking. He testified frequently in complex rate cases before the Iowa Commerce Commission. Upon his retirement from Iowa-Illinois in 1987, Mr. Shaw passed the Certified Financial Planner examinations and became an SEC-registered investment adviser to family members and a select group of non-family clients.
Mr. Shaw was very active in civic and community affairs in Iowa. From 1969 to 1981, he served two terms as a member of the Iowa State Board of Regents, which oversees the State’s three public universities and other State-owned educational institutions. He also chaired the Davenport United Way campaign for many years and served long tenures on the boards of St. Luke’s Hospital and Brenton Bank. Mr. Shaw was active in earlier years in Democratic politics, notwithstanding the fact that his wife served for many years as a Republican in the Iowa House of Representatives and Senate and as Scott County (Iowa) Attorney.
Mr. Shaw was known for his collegiality and was the consummate family man. He and his wife raised their family of three children in Davenport. In an autobiography he proudly completed in 2006, Mr. Shaw noted with respect to his family that, while then living in various locations, none close together, “we have always been close-knit, visiting often and helping each other.” Said his daughter, Betsy: “My dad was an optimist. He believed in my brothers’ and my abilities to achieve, and was always our strongest supporter in our endeavors. He willingly invested in us, both emotionally and materially, throughout our youth and into our adult lives. We are who we are today because of his tremendous support.” The family engaged in many activities together, including skiing in Colorado, where Mr. Shaw maintained a second home, and biking, tennis, golf, boating and swimming, often on frequent family vacations to Cape Cod. On several occasions, for instance, Mr. Shaw participated with family members in the annual great bicycle ride across Iowa.
Mr. Shaw was the beloved husband of Elizabeth; loving father of Elizabeth A. Shaw (Alexander), of Bethesda, Maryland, Andrew H. Shaw, of Kenilworth, Illinois, and Anthony O. Shaw (Joann) of Williston, Vermont; dearest grandfather of Sarah, Caroline, Allison, Kathryn, Nathan, Emily and Meredith Shaw; and devoted brother of Edith Gerstenberger of Oelwein, Iowa. He was preceded in death by his parents, John Hardy and Minnie Brown Shaw, a brother, Kermit Shaw, sisters Florence Stewart and Mildred Herron, and a daughter-in-law, Julie Reynolds Shaw.
A memorial service for Mr. Shaw will be scheduled in the Davenport area at a later date. Interment will be at the Rock Island National Cemetery, Arsenal Island, Rock Island, Illinois.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions be made to Phillips Brooks House, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, or to a charity of your choice.