Don Hanaway Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Honorable
Don Hanaway
Order:40th
Office:Attorney General of Wisconsin
Term Start:January 3, 1987
Term End:January 7, 1991
Governor:Tommy Thompson
Predecessor:Bronson La Follette
Successor:Jim Doyle
Office1:Wisconsin Circuit Judge for the
Appointer1:Tommy Thompson
Term Start1:July 1991
Term End1:September 7, 1995
Predecessor1:John Jaekels
Successor1:William C. Griesbach
State Senate2:Wisconsin
District2:2nd
Term Start2:July 11, 1979
Term End2:January 3, 1987
Predecessor2:Tom Petri
Successor2:Robert Cowles
Office3:27th Mayor of De Pere, Wisconsin
Term Start3:April 1972
Term End3:April 1974
Predecessor3:Roger H. Rebman
Successor3:Robert P. DeGroot
Party:Republican
Birth Date:25 December 1933
Birth Place:Stevens Point, Wisconsin
Death Place:Green Bay, Wisconsin
Restingplace:Allouez Catholic Cemetery and Chapel Mausoleum
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Spouse:Jo Ann
Children:4
Alma Mater:University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin Law School
Profession:attorney, judge
Allegiance:United States
Branch:United States Army
Serviceyears:1954 - 1956

Donald J. Hanaway (December 25, 1933September 7, 1995) was an American lawyer, jurist, and Republican politician from De Pere, Wisconsin. He was the 40th attorney general of Wisconsin, serving from 1987 to 1991, and subsequently served the last four years of his life as a Wisconsin circuit court judge in Brown County. Earlier in his career, he was the 27th mayor of De Pere (1972 - 1974) and served eight years in the Wisconsin Senate (1979 - 1987).

Biography

Hanaway was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Commerce in 1958, and received his juris doctor from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1961. He had previously served in the United States Army from 1954 to 1956.[1]

Before being elected Attorney General, Hanaway served as a Brown County Assistant District Attorney from 1962 to 1964, and later as a special prosecutor in Brown County from 1967 to 1968. He also served concurrently as the De Pere city attorney from 1965 to 1972, and again from 1976 to 1979. In between those stints as city attorney, he served as mayor of De Pere from 1972 to 1974.[2]

Hanaway was elected as a Republican in a special election to the Wisconsin State Senate in July 1979. He was re-elected to the State Senate's 2nd District in 1980, and again in 1984. He served as an assistant minority leader from 1981 to 1982.[3]

In 1986, Hanaway ran for attorney general, defeating incumbent Bronson La Follette. He served one term, being defeated for re-election by Jim Doyle in 1990.[4]

Hanaway went on to serve as a Brown County Circuit Judge from 1991 until his death in 1995.[5] Hanaway died from cancer at a hospital in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He and his wife, Jo Ann, had four children.[6] [7]

Electoral history

Notes and References

  1. 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1989-1990,' Biographical Sketch of Donald Hanaway, pg. 6
  2. 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1989-1990,' Biographical Sketch of Donald Hanaway, pg. 6
  3. 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1989-1990,' Biographical Sketch of Donald Hanaway, pg. 9
  4. http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=1850&keyword=hanaway Hanaway, Donald J. 1933
  5. 'Wisconsin Blue Book 1991-1992,' Judicial Branch, pg. 960
  6. 'Donald J. Hanaway-obituary,' Wisconsin State Journal, September 9, 1995, pg. 4B
  7. Former attorney general Don Hanaway dies from cancer,' Wisconsin State Journal, September 9, 1995, pg. 3B