There will be a celebration of Dave Nanney’s life on June 25 at 5:30 p.m. at the Haines Sheldon Museum. Nanney, 83, died from heart failure May 13 in hospice care in Anchorage, according to cousin Joe Parnell. “Dave was worldly, transcendental and brilliant. He was able to talk about just about any subject intelligently,” Parnell said. “He lived a full life.”

A former Haines city administrator and planner, Nanney created the first modern plat and parcel map of the area. He was also a commercial fisherman, artist, entrepreneur, musician and served on fisheries, planning, economic development and tourism boards and commissions. 

Friend Steve Waste noted that for 50 years Nanney continuously advocated for preserving the natural assets of the valley while developing a sustainable economy and that he “cautioned against outside interests seeking short-term gain” using local natural resources. 

As a vocal proponent of the creation of the 48,000-acre Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve in 1982, Nanney was subjected to animosity and physical threats. “Dave was young, bright and idealistic, but didn’t always know the ins and outs of small-town politics – not that any of us really do,” former Haines Borough Assembly member Tresham Gregg said. 

Later, Nanney joined former state lawmaker and fisherman Bill Thomas to lobby for the funding for the Douglas Island Pink and Chum (DIPAC) hatchery and DIPAC’s Boat Harbor chum fishery. After learning of his friend’s death, Thomas said he reminded younger fishermen to “say a thank you to Dave Nanney” when they are in Boat Harbor this season, “because he helped you get rich.” Nanney also had a hand in the building of the Small Boat Harbor ice plant and the guidelines for the historic district in Fort Seward.

Gregg, Nanney’s college roommate and lifelong friend, introduced him to Haines at the end of their freshman year at Stanford. Gregg invited Nanney to work in Haines for the summer at the Gregg family buildings in Fort Seward. Gregg said that on the milk run from Seattle, Nanney struck up a conversation in the men’s room of the Ketchikan airport with a friendly guy who later introduced himself as Gov. Bill Egan. That encounter, and the beauty of Haines, made Nanney a born-again Alaskan. “There was no doubt in his mind that Haines would be home,” Gregg said.

David Young Nanney Jr. was born to David Young Nanney Sr. and Lucille Cook Nanney on March 11, 1943, during World War II in the Panama Canal Zone. His father was a colonel in the Army and his mother took care of Dave and his three siblings. The family lived all over the world. Nanney was especially influenced by their time in Turkey.  He spoke several languages and was a student of global culture.

After retiring, the senior Nanneys settled in Palo Alto because Colonel Nanney wanted his children to attend Stanford. All four did. Nanney earned a master of arts degree in architecture. He served two years in the Army as a Unit Commander of field artillery and received the National Defense Service Medal. After his discharge, Nanney took the Orient Express from Turkey to France and he and first wife Nancy Roberts spent time in Japan where she taught school before they settled in Haines.

Here, young Nanney worked on a grant-funded project to map the area and was hired as an administrator and planner. He later fished the gillnetter Jeannie C. 

Nanney and his second wife, teacher Donna Truax, operated the Eagle Bed and Breakfast gallery and bakery in their Soaps Suds Alley home. They were a couple during her children Crystal and David’s formative years and Truax said Nanney was a good influence on them. “Both have master’s degrees and Dave valued education,” Truax said. “He was always a gentleman and he was always kind.”  

Into his 80s Nanney punctuated sentences with “groovy” and “trippy.” One day he could be in a government office discussing land-use issues dressed in a white button-down shirt and the next he’d be sitting cross legged on the floor playing a sitar. He had a gentle sense of humor, even when it came to his own quirks. He was curious and passionate about his many pursuits including eagle-viewing tours for journalists and researchers, promoting John Muir’s connection to the Chilkat Valley, painting, photography, videography, and especially music. In addition to the sitar, he played keyboards, flute and drums. He lent sound equipment and instruments to locals and visiting entertainers and filmed events in the Chilkat Center. He painted the mural-sized map of Haines and northern southeast Alaska for the Haines Sheldon Museum and played music at art openings there and created kite and light shows in theater productions. For a time, he co-owned a seafood business and a downtown art gallery. 

Former mayor Fred Shields said he will remember his neighbor and friend as “a good human being who contributed significantly to our community.”

Nanney is survived by siblings Suellyn Fry, Sylvia Fitzgerald and Don Nanney, and cousin Joe Parnell.