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MEMORIAL ARTICLE
Published Assembly Dec '87
Daniel Marshall Leininger No.15387 Class of 1946
Died 9 August 1985 in Jacksonville, Florida. Interment: Jacksonville
Memory Gardens, Orange Park, Florida |
Daniel (Dan) Leininger was born in July 1923 in
Marfa, Texas, the son of Colonel Daniel B. Leininger, a career
officer in the Army's Veterinary Corps. Raised in the peacetime
environment of the pre-World War II Army, Dan early on set entrance
to West Point as a firm goal, a goal which he reached after a
year at Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy.
On the Class graduation in 1946, Dan chose the Corps of Engineers
as his branch and found, as his career progressed, that his civil
engineering assignments were those for which he felt he was best
qualified and from which he achieved his greatest satisfactions.
He attended both the Basic and Advanced Engineer Officer Courses
at Fort Belvoir, obtained a master's degree in civil engineering
at the University of California at Berkeley, and later qualified
for Professional Engineer registrations from both the State of
Florida and the Panama Canal Zone.
Dan's 21-year active duty career in the Army was
a very successful one. He served in the Far East, both in Japan
and Korea; he was selected for and attended the Command and General
Staff College at Fort Leavenworth; he spent many years on duty
in the Panama Canal Zone, first as aide to the governor and later
as a responsible operating supervisor involved in the large scale
dredging and other activities necessary to keep the canal open
for traffic.
Dan retired from the Army in 1967 and worked for
a Jacksonville engineering firm for four years before joining
the Port Authority as an engineer and planner in 1972. Six years
later he became director of the Authority's engineering department.
As director, Dan was, in effect, the chief engineer of the Port
Authority, which is charged with all aspects of construction,
operation, and maintenance of both the seaport and airport complexes
that make Jacksonville the important commercial city that it
has become. During his eight-year tenure, he spearheaded a major
effort to both expand and modernize virtually all of the facilities
under the Authority's jurisdiction--and to plan ahead as well,
as the prime mover behind getting the city to accomplish a practical
25 year master plan for the port, including both the shoreside
facilities and the environmentally sensitive issues of dredging
and dredge spoil disposal.
Those who worked with him could tell you that he
was a true engineer at heart and nothing gave him more pleasure
than to see worthwhile projects properly designed, properly built,
and completed on time for what he said they would cost.
Many people believe that the true measure of a man lies in the
kind of family that he puts together around him. In this regard,
Dan was really outstanding, for it is clear that he and his wife
Ginny have shown how rewarding the traditional family concepts
of devotion to each other and adherence to Christian principles
can be. Their four children, all solid citizens in their own
rights, are further testimonial to Dan's concern for family and
to his maturity and wisdom and guidance.
Those who knew him will miss him. They will miss
his friendliness, his approachability, his genuineness, his sometimes
eccentric sense of humor, and his continuous concern for the
well being and happiness of those with whom he associated.
Dan is survived by his wife, Virginia; two sons. Daniel A., a
career naval officer and Mark T., a senior at Auburn University;
two daughters, Janet, a research scientist at Georgia Technical
Institute, and Lisa a bank controller in Jacksonville, Florida;
and two grandchildren.
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