Daniel Kent Jamieson

Daniel Kent Jamieson died Sunday, September 23, 2018 at the age of 76. Dan was born January 7, 1942 in Lansing, Michigan to the late William Parker Jamieson and Beatrice Ruth (Hickey) Jamieson. Dan is survived by his wife Martha Jamieson, children Cameron (Pamela Bodnar) Jamieson of Grosse Pointe, Michigan and Emily Jamieson (Mike McIntosh) of Jenison, Michigan and grandchildren: Miles and Maeve Jamieson and Sophia McIntosh. Dan is also survived by brothers William (Karen) Jamieson of Troy, Michigan and Dr. Thomas (Debbie) Jamieson of Lansing, MI. Dan's youngest brother, Richard predeceased Dan: Sisters in-law Barbara Dunn (George) of Mount Pleasant, MI and Suzanne Azuela of Battle Creek, MI. Also surviving are dozens of nieces and nephews, members of a loving family network. Dan graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in Divisional Humanities. Dan was a member of the MSU varsity swim team and sang in the MSU Men's Glee Club. Dan would meet his future wife, Martha, studying Shakespeare. They would wed in 1962 in Battle Creek, MI. Dan continued his studies at Wayne State University Law School receiving his Juris Doctorate degree in 1968. Moving to Kalamazoo in 1968, Dan joined the law firm of Troff, Lilly, Piatt, File and Doyle. Later, Dan with Jim Ryan, created the law firm of Ryan, Jamieson, Hubbell and Morris. Dan was a trial lawyer for forty seven years, retiring in 2015. He was a member of the Kalamazoo Bar Association and Kalamazoo Trial Lawyers. Dan served on the boards of the Kalamazoo Nature Center, the Environmental Concerns Committee which he and Lin Foote co-founded in the 1970s, Kalamazoo American Youth Soccer Association and People's Church. Dan's great passions during his lifetime were his family, the great outdoors, classical music, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada and Michigan State sports. A loyal MSU Spartan, Dan regularly swam in alumnae swim meets and attended MSU football games with his brothers and their families. Dan enjoyed the Kalamazoo Symphony concerts, traveled yearly to the Shakespeare Festival and went annually with his fishing buddies to the Manitou in Ontario. Every Autumn when his children were young, Dan drove the neighborhood kids to Cass County MI to see the giant 100 year old tulip tree. Known as the "Big Tree" adventure, they would pile into the station wagon, eat their lunch on site, then walk a mile back to the tree. Dozens of children enjoyed this opportunity to experience nature. The "Big Tree" may have since fallen, but those memories have not for those lucky children. As a lifetime athlete, Dan was a regular swimmer at the YMCA, a runner who ran in many of Kalamazoo's yearly races and eventually becoming a distance walker. Dan was an amazing amateur photographer, capturing, in print, his beloved Lake Michigan lighthouses on stormy days. Spring, summer, fall and winter landscape photos fill a dozen photo albums and many enlarged, framed and gifted to family members. In the 1990's, Dan and Martha bought a cottage on Pine Lake island, near Plainwell, MI. There, his children, their spouses, grand-children, friends and extended family gathered for picnics, fishing, swimming, boating, culminating with the annual 4th of July picnic and fireworks. Dan will be remembered by those who knew him as a happy, gentle and kind man, a loving husband and Poppy. He was known to represent a client free of charge if they could not afford his services, a real-life Atticus Finch. Dan was a humanist and a Renaissance man. A special Thank You is extended to Dan's caregivers at Story Point, family and friends who visited him regularly. A memorial Service will be held at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts on Saturday November 10th at 5:00 pm, followed by a reception. Donations in Dan's name may be made to the Alzheimers Association, The Kalamazoo Nature Center, or Hospice Care of Southwest Michigan.