Dan Dillon

Dan Dillon died Wednesday, May 22, 2013, at his home. He was 59.

A celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. June 23, at the River House at the Reinhart
Volunteer Park in Grants Pass.

Dan was born in March 1954 in Missoula, Mont. As a youth, he enjoyed being a Boy Scout, reading, hiking the Bob Marshall Wilderness, water skiing, cross-country running, skeet shooting, tennis and golf. He graduated from Loyola High School in Missoula in 1972.

Dan moved to Oregon to attend the University of Portland in 1972. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications/English, graduating “cum laude” in 1976. He also was president of the local chapter Blue Key National Honor Fraternity during his senior year. Dan then earned a Master of Science degree in Journalism from the University of Oregon in 1978.

In the Spring of 1979, Dan became the city editor, news editor then editor of the Sandy Post
(Oregon), where he earned awards for reporting, writing, and front page layout and design. In
1983, Dan moved to Grants Pass to work for the Daily Courier. He was a reporter, city editor, and then a copy editor at the Courier for 29 years, winning awards for his reporting, writing and headlines.

In 1984, Dan met Kathy Glasier, who had moved to Grants Pass to work at the Courier. They were married in 1986. Dan enjoyed reading, music, swimming, golf, baseball, photography, reading and writing poetry, and Coen brothers films. He cherished the time he spent with their two daughters.

When Dan was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2009, his goal was to see their oldest daugh- ter graduate from college and their youngest graduate from high school in June 2012. Dan was proud to “help the next person” with kidney cancer through his participation in a drug trial at the Knight Cancer Institute in Portland. During the trial, the FDA approved the drug as a second-line treatment for advanced renal cell carcinoma.

Dan spent his last three months at home under the care of his family and Asante Hospice. He is survived by wife Kathy; daughters Elizabeth and Caitlin; parents Tom and Fritz Dillon of Missoula; sister Joanne Streit and her husband Joe of Fort Benton, Mont.; and two nieces.

Memorial donations may be made to Josephine Community Libraries Inc., PO Box 1684, Grants Pass, OR 97528.