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<p><em>Daniel Chambers Bird Jr.</em> was born on September 26, 1947 in Pasadena, CA. His parents, Colonel Daniel C. Bird (Signal Corps) and Army nurse June Sasada Bird, met while both were serving at Fort Benning, GA. During Dan’s early years, the family moved frequently, with stops in California, Virginia, Arizona, Kansas, and Wisconsin.</p>
<p>When Dan was 12, the family was posted to Denmark. They befriended their Danish neighbors, the Oscar Stauersboll family, from whom Dan acquired his lifelong love of chess and stamp collecting. Dan attended Dreux American High School in France his freshman year. He was on the honor roll, lettered in soccer, and learned to speak French. When the Birds returned to the States, Dan attended Fort Hunt High School in Fairfax County, VA, where he lettered in football and baseball and established himself as a gifted scholar. He was a National Merit Scholar and attended, under a National Science Foundation Fellowship, a program in nuclear physics at the University of Virginia the summer before his senior year. Graduating at the top of his class in 1965, he had numerous prestigious opportunities. He chose to accept a principal appointment to West Point from Congressman Albert Watson, 2nd District, South Carolina.</p>
<p>Dan excelled in every aspect of the West Point experience graduating in the top 10 percent of his class. While a cadet he received a National Science Foundation scholarship to conduct research in nuclear physics and still found time to refine his bridge playing prowess. Dan loved golf and baseball. He treasured the memory of exhibition games against the New York Yankees, featuring Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra. He even got a hit off of Whitey Ford. </p>
<p>After graduation, Dan was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers and in early 1970 was assigned to the 79th Construction Engineer Battalion, New Ulm, Germany. Later, he was assigned as the facilities engineer in Germersheim. In 1972, Dan did an intra-theater transfer to the 2nd Engineer Group in Seoul, Korea. In 1974, he was invited to join the West Point faculty as a physics professor and was accepted as a doctoral candidate in nuclear physics at MIT. However, he decided to resign his commission to attend the University of Virginia Law School, where he graduated in 1977 in the top of his class, having concentrated in corporate and securities law.</p>
<p>In May 1977, Dan joined the law firm of Chapman and Cutler in Chicago in the Securities Department. In 1995, he joined Winston and Strawn to lead their Asset Securitization practice. Throughout his career, Dan was particularly known for his innovative ideas and providing value to clients. He was involved in financing transactions with many of America’s most respected companies, including McDonald’s, Hallmark Cards, Harley Davidson, Purina Mills, and GE Capital. Dan retired from Winston in 2012 and moved to Charlottesville, VA. While Dan was a superb lawyer, he knew that business was often best discussed over a round of golf. He hoisted many a championship trophy at some very prestigious courses while taking care of business.</p>
<p>Dan had three children—Danny, Carrie, and Jessie—with his first wife, Pamela (Coath) Bird. He had been married to Kathi (Gruca) Bird for the last 21 years. Dan had five grandsons who were very dear to him. Dan always loved to travel. After turning 60, he and Kathi visited over 20 countries (often with family), including annual trips to Paris, Germany, and Mexico. Their Orient Express trip from Paris to Istanbul was particularly memorable.</p>
<p>As an avid model railroader Dan enjoyed using his engineering skills to design a special building for the extensive train layout he built from scratch. He fully engaged his grandsons in his train pursuits, a wonderful source of fun for all of them. He was also an enthusiastic collector of historic military miniatures and toy soldiers and assembled a world-class collection. Amongst “the thousands under his command,” Dan had multiple sets of USMA cadets, of course. Dan loved sports and was ever loyal to his Army and Virginia teams. When Army beat Navy in football 2016, he received congratulations for “his perseverance” from friends near and far. He was a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. While living in Chicago, Dan particularly relished watching his Cards beat the hometown Cubs.</p>
<p>In addition to golf, chess, stamps, toy soldiers, trains, bridge, travel and sports, Dan loved to cook. His specialty dishes (barbecued shrimp, French onion soup and gumbo) are reported to be the best of their kind by those who have enjoyed Chef Bird’s gourmet delights.</p>
<p>Dan Bird lived his life to the fullest. He often said, “Do the things you want to do now, if you can, because you never know what the future holds.” He followed his own advice and was a man of action. He invested his time wisely with people and activities he loved. He made great efforts to stay connected to friends, and he was very generous with his time and resources.</p>
<p>Kathi Bird said: “Dan was admirable and accomplished in so many ways, but the qualities in him that I treasure the most are his high moral character and his loving nature. In Dan, these were so intertwined. I learned from Dan that love is not just a feeling, it is what you do. He was extraordinary and I don’t know anyone could ‘do’ quite as well as Dan did on all levels.</p>
<p>“To Dan: Nobody does it better. Baby, you’re the best!”</p>
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