Representative David M. Stanley View All Years

DAVID M. STANLEY

David M. Stanley was born on September 9, 1928, in Dubuque, Iowa, to C. Maxwell and Elizabeth Holthues Stanley. He passed away on August 26, 2015, at the age of 86. He is survived by four children and their spouses, Lincoln Stanley and Barbara Mazer, Rebecca Stanley and Timothy McFate, Nathan and Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, and Elizabeth and Timothy Shriver; and ten grandchildren.

Stanley attended the Muscatine public schools and graduated from Muscatine High School. He was an Eagle Scout and was inducted into the Muscatine High School Hall of Honor. He married his high school sweetheart, Jean Leu, on June 27, 1948. He received a B.A. from the University of Iowa in 1951 and a J.D. from the University of Iowa, College of Law in 1953. Stanley served in the U.S. Air Force from 1954-1956. He began his practice of law in Muscatine in 1957.

Stanley was elected to the Iowa House in 1958, and he also served in the Senate, for a total of 12 years in the Legislature. He held the position of Ways and Means committee chairperson while in the House, and he served as Senate Majority Leader. In 1978, Stanley launched Iowans for Tax Relief, a taxpayer rights organization that lobbies for reduced state government spending and lower taxes.

Stanley was an active member of his community. He and his wife were members of the United Methodist Church and active in the renewal and reform movement of the church as a whole. He was a Rotarian and received an honorary Paul Harris Fellowship. He was chairman of many nonprofit organizations, including the New Hope Foundation, the National Taxpayers Union, and the Public Interest Institute, a limited government think tank. He served on the Iowa Wesleyan College Board of Trustees and was a member of Toastmasters, Masonic Orders, and Izaak Walton League.

David Stanley was a Muscatine County Republican. He served in the Iowa House from 1959–1964, and again in 1973, and served in the Senate from 1965–1969, during the 58th, 59th, 60th, 61st, 62nd, 63rd, and 65th, General Assemblies.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE EIGHTY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF IOWA: That in the passing of the Honorable David Stanley, the State has lost an honored citizen and faithful and useful public servant, and that the Senate by this resolution expresses its appreciation of his service to the State and tenders its sympathy and kindest regards to the members of his family.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That a copy of this resolution be spread upon the Journal of the Senate and that the Secretary of the Senate be instructed to forward an enrolled copy to the family of the deceased.

Robert E. Dvorsky

Thomas A. Greene

Mark Lofgren

Committee