Dale Danks
{{Short description|American politician (1939–2021)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| office = Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi
| successor = J. Kane Ditto
| predecessor = Russell C. Davis
| image = Dale Danks, mayor of Jackson Mississippi.png
| termstart = 1977
| termend = 1989
| parents = Alney Dale Danks Sr.
Elizabeth Ross Banks
| birth_name = Alney Dale Danks Jr.
| birth_date = {{birth date|1939|8|27}}
| birth_place = Miami, Florida, U.S.
| party = Republican (1995–2021)
| spouse =
| otherparty = Democratic (until 1995)
| death_date = {{dda|2021|6|9|1939|8|27}}
| death_place = Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.
}}
Alney Dale Danks Jr.{{Cite news|date=1991-12-29|title=Alney Dale Danks Sr. Obituary|pages=14|work=Clarion-Ledger|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11195259/alney-dale-danks-sr-obituary/|access-date=2020-10-20}} (August 27, 1939 – June 9, 2021){{Cite news|date=1984-10-14|title=Lengthy profile of Jackson Mayor Dale Danks|pages=82|work=Clarion-Ledger|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55382989/lengthy-profile-of-jackson-mayor-dale/|access-date=2020-10-30}} was an American attorney who served as the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, from 1977 to 1989.{{Cite web|last=Ladd|first=Donna|title=Dale Danks Working For, and Against, the City|url=http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2005/oct/07/dale-danks-working-for-and-against-the-city/|access-date=2021-01-07|website=www.jacksonfreepress.com|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=DALE DANKS JR. {{!}} Danks Miller & Cory|url=https://danksmillercory.com/dale-danks-jr/|access-date=2020-10-13|language=en-GB|archive-date=2020-10-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201014005736/https://danksmillercory.com/dale-danks-jr/|url-status=dead}}
Biography
Alney Dale Danks Jr. was born on August 27, 1939, in Miami, Florida, to Alney Dale Danks Sr. and Elizabeth Ross. When Danks was 3, his family moved to Alabama. In 1954, his family moved to Jackson, Mississippi. He graduated from Murrah High School and enrolled in Millsaps College in 1957.{{Cite news|date=1984-10-14|title=Lengthy profile of Jackson Mayor Dale Danks|pages=81|work=Clarion-Ledger|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55382936/lengthy-profile-of-jackson-mayor-dale/|access-date=2021-01-26}} In June 1959, he dropped out of Millsaps College and married Carolyn Carl. In 1963, he graduated law school at the Jackson School of Law and was admitted to the bar.{{Cite web|last=Cardon|first=Dustin|title=Dale Danks Jr.|url=http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2021/jun/10/dale-danks-jr/|access-date=2021-06-11|website=www.jacksonfreepress.com|language=en}}
Political career
In 1965, Danks first ran for city commissioner as a Republican and lost. He ran for becoming the Hinds County prosecutor in 1968 and lost. He won the election to become the Hinds County prosecutor in 1972. In 1977, he ran for the mayor office of Jackson, Mississippi as a Democrat, beating Republican candidate Doug Shanks.MS Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 596 https://da.mdah.ms.gov/series-files/sos/sosenrolled/sos-enrolled-2015/sos-enrolled-2015-concurrent/sos-enrolled-2015-concurrent-senate/pdf/SCR596.pdf{{Cite book|last=Southwick|first=Leslie H.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qvQaBwAAQBAJ&q=%22Dale+Danks%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA277|title=The Nominee: A Political and Spiritual Journey|date=2013-10-11|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|isbn=978-1-61703-913-3|language=en}} He won re-election in 1981. Starting in 1985, he became the first mayor of the city under mayor-council form.{{Cite book|last1=Bowers|first1=James R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EQhkwJvA3jwC&q=%22Dale+Danks%22&pg=PA9|title=Governing Middle-sized Cities: Studies in Mayoral Leadership|last2=Rich|first2=Wilbur C.|date=2000|publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers|isbn=978-1-55587-870-2|language=en}} Danks stopped being the mayor of Jackson in 1989, when he lost in a runoff election to J. Kane Ditto.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w-UtAAAAYAAJ&q=Dale+Danks|title=The Hotline|date=1989|publisher=The Network|pages=10|language=en}}
Later life
He returned to practicing law. After 1989, he was appointed as a municipal judge in Madison, Mississippi. In 2004, he formed a law firm with attorney Michael Cory, named "Danks, Miller & Cory". In 2005, he served on the transition team of mayor Frank Melton.
Danks died of complications from a stroke on June 9, 2021.{{Cite web|last=Warren|first=Anthony|title=Dale Danks, former Jackson mayor, dies of complications from stroke|url=https://www.wlbt.com/2021/06/09/dale-danks-former-jackson-mayor-dies-complications-stroke/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-06-10|website=WLBT|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610001741/https://www.wlbt.com/2021/06/09/dale-danks-former-jackson-mayor-dies-complications-stroke/ |archive-date=2021-06-10 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Mayors of Jackson, Mississippi}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Danks, Dale}}
Category:20th-century mayors of places in Mississippi
Category:Mayors of Jackson, Mississippi
Category:Politicians from Miami
Category:Millsaps College alumni
Category:Mississippi College School of Law alumni