Heaney, former State Bar president, dies

Listen to this article

Donald Heaney, an attorney at Madison-based Boardman & Clark LLP and former State Bar president, died Thursday morning.

Heaney, 81, was president of the State Bar from 1985 to 1986. He also participated in the Wisconsin Law Foundation, Fellows of the Wisconsin Law Foundation and the Dane County Bar Association. He was also recognized by the Wisconsin Law Journal as a 2008 Leader in the Law honoree.

He was with Boardman & Clark, formerly known as Lathrop & Clark LLP (where he was a partner), since 1959 and specialized in commercial litigation, said Theodore Long, an attorney with Boardman & Clark.

“He was a very fine person and a close friend of mine for 51 years,” Long said. “We are going to miss him terribly.”

Funeral services will be held Tuesday at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church, 1513 Flad Ave., Madison. Visitation begins at 9 a.m. followed by a funeral service at 11 a.m.

“He had a great charisma about him,” said Frank Gimbel, a founding partner of Milwaukee-based Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown LLP. “He was a great storyteller, and a very committed professional and family man.”