Dane’s Dairy founder and ‘consummate public servant’ John Dane dies

IOWA CITY - John Dane, who founded Dane's Dairy and had a lengthy record of public service, died Thursday at age 90.

Dane was a man with a big presence, who wasn't afraid to speak his mind and who had a passion for his large family and community, those close to him said Friday.

'He was a very consummate public servant,” said his son, Jim Dane, 65, who farms the land his grandfather and father did before him. 'He believed it was important to be a family person but at the same time he wanted to serve people. He wanted to make an impact on his community, not for his own glory but to serve his friends and neighbors.”

After June 29 surgery, John Dane returned home Sunday, and his health quickly deteriorated. He died Thursday evening with his loved ones around him, Jim Dane said.

John Dane was an Iowa City boy, born at University Hospitals in 1926 and raised on the family farm - now the 500-acre Haldane Farm - on the western outskirts of Iowa City, according to a profile for the Johnson County Armory and Veterans Affairs Memorial. He joined the military and was inducted into the Army Air Corps in 1944.

After the service, Dane returned to Iowa City where he raised a family of five children with his wife Allegra 'Allie” Dane, who died in 2012. He married Kathryn Schweer in 2014.

Dane built a pasteurizing plant with an adjoining dairy store on the farm in 1952. Neighbors came for milk, eggs, butter, cream, cottage cheese and ice cream made from milk from his Holstein cows. The pasteurizing plant closed in 1968, and the store, which moved three times before landing at 1430 Willow Creek Ct., now focuses exclusively on ice cream.

Charlie Funk, president of MidWestOne Bank, said countless children got their first jobs at Dane's Dairy, including his daughters. Funk knew John Dane through his role as a shareholder at the bank and as a member of the Monday Morning Quarterback Club and First United Methodist Church.

'You always knew he was in the room because he was one of the smartest and loudest people in the room,” Funk recalled. 'He always asked the first question no matter what venue he was in, and he asked hard questions. ... He was never mean-spirited about his question, but at the same time he was very direct.”

He recalled Dane probing an Iowa Hawkeye assistant coach about why the football team was struggling to recover onside kicks one frustrating season, and the time he had a lengthy list of questions about a school bond referendum.

'I think John was very interested in the community, and he wanted to know as much as he could about what was going on,” Funk said.

Phil Leff, of the Leff Law Firm of Iowa City, served on the school board with Dane in the 1960s. In those days, the board convened at people's homes and he recalled wonderful meals prepared by Allie Dane.

'He was a guy who would say exactly what he felt,” Leff said. 'He didn't try to give an answer just so it would satisfy others.”

Nephew Robert Dane said his uncle was a friend of Iowa athletics and delivered ice cream to the football team during two-a-day August practices for years. 'He left a big footprint, in a wide swath,” he said.

Dane was a president of Farm Bureau and served on the state and national board for Mid-America Dairymen. He was a member of Jaycees and Kiwanis Club and donated 11 acres to Iowa City for Kiwanis Park.

A conservative, he ran for the Johnson County Board of Supervisors in 1978, losing by a handful of votes.

'An 11-vote defeat in Johnson County is essentially a victory for a Republican,” Jim Dane joked.

Services are pending.