Mead, Dana G. 82, died October 31st, in Boston, MA. Born in Cresco, IA, to the late Evelyn and George Mead, Dana moved to Bethaldo, IL at the age of 13. He attended Wood River High School where he was elected both Senior Class President and Football Captain, foreshadowing a life of leadership and service.
Dana graduated from West Point in 1957, was commissioned armor, and served with the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg and with the 3rd Armor in West Germany. After receiving a PhD in Political Science from MIT, he taught in West Point’s Department of Social Sciences. While at West Point he served on Pentagon teams preparing Westmoreland’s Report on the War in Vietnam and writing the last volumes of the Pentagon Papers. He was subsequently deployed to a combat command in Quang Tri, Vietnam where he also authored the plans that coordinated withdrawal of the Marines from Vietnam.
Returning stateside, Dana was chosen as a White House Fellow and served three more years in the White House as the Deputy Director of the Domestic Council, focusing on desegregation, community development, revenue sharing, and transportation. After a second tour with West Point’s Social Sciences Department (as Deputy Head) Dana retired from the Army and began a distinguished business career, first at International Paper and then as President, Chairman, and CEO of Tenneco. Tenneco was named one of the 100 Best Managed Companies in the world four times during his tenure. While at Tenneco Dana was also elected Chairman of both the National Association of Manufacturers and the Business Roundtable. He co-founded the French-American Business Council, chaired the Transatlantic Business Dialogue, chaired the Royal Shakespeare Company USA Board, and sat on the parent board in London. He also served on the boards of Pfizer, Zurich, Textron, Cummins, NatWest, and the Center for Creative Leadership.
After retiring from Tenneco in 2000, Dana was active on many non-profit and educational boards. He served as Chairman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation (MIT’s Board of Trustees) from 2003 through 2010. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Advisory Board of the Marshall Foundation. He was also on the board of the Pardee RAND Graduate School, the School for Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, and the National Board of Governors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
Known for telling a great story, Dana was a true Renaissance man. He was an avid boater, fisherman, and jack of all trades, who was self-taught and competent in every new endeavor he undertook. Reading and classic movies were two of his passions. Always on the go, Dana loved to travel and spend time with family and friends, and especially his wife Nancy, whom he met in high school and married immediately after graduating from West Point. Over the next 60 years, Dana and Nancy traveled the world and made their home in numerous towns across the country. A principled, hardworking, and congenial person, Dana cast a wide net of friendships and was valued for his sage advice and wisdom. Dana had an enduring impact on those he knew, and he will be missed by all.
He is survived by his wife, Nancy, and sons, Dana, Jr. (D’Arcy) and Mark (Susie), his brother Michael (Anna), and seven grandsons.
Dana’s funeral services will be held at the Old Cadet Chapel at the West Point Cemetery at 10:00 a.m. on November 20th. In lieu of flowers, donations in his name can be made to the Boys and Girls Club of America, Attn: Julie Teer, 1275 Peachtree Street, NE, Atlanta, GA 30309, or http://donate.bgca.org/