Lifestyles

L. Dan Morris receives Distinguished Eagle Scout Award

L. Daniel Morris, Jr. recently received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the National Council Boy Scouts of America.
Dan Morris is currently the Assistant Director for the State of Alabama Department of Transportation. He was asked to take this position in order to focus on bringing to conclusion the Reynolds’ lawsuit, which had been ongoing since 1985. The Consent Decree resulting from the lawsuit was successfully finished at the end of 2006 and the fines, which were $63,500 a week in 2003, were successfully terminated.
Prior to going to work for the Department of Transportation, Dan had been Vice President, Legal Services with Blount Inc., Montgomery, Alabama. When the company was sold at the end of 1999, he retired and did freelance legal work before joining the Alabama Department of Transportation. Prior to that, he had been General Attorney and Assistant Secretary with Vulcan Materials in Birmingham and then Senior Vice President and General Council with Brookwood Health Services, also in Birmingham.
Mr. Morris has a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree from Auburn University and a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
He has been active in community affairs in both Birmingham, Alabama and Montgomery, Alabama. While in Birmingham, he was a member of the Board of Trustees of Children’s Hospital. He also was a member of the Board of Directors of the Advent Episcopal Association for Education and was president of that organization for two terms. Further, he was a member of the Board of Trustees for the Advent Episcopal Day School. He served on the Planning Commission for the City of Homewood and was a Board of Control member of the Shades Valley YMCA, serving as Finance Chairman and then as Board Chairman and has also served since the 1970’s as Secretary of the C. Eugene Ireland Foundation, which is headquartered in Birmingham.
Since moving to Montgomery is late 1981, he has been active in Montgomery community affairs. He helped form an organization to raise money and provide support for the Carver Creative and Performing Arts School, which is now located at Booker T. Washington Magnet School. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Alabama World Affairs Council. He is on the Civil Engineering Industry Liaison Council at Auburn University and is a member of the Advisory Board of Resurrection Catholic Missions. Additionally, he has been an alumni interviewer for Georgetown University for the undergraduate admissions program since the late 1980’s and he took the position of chairman of the committee for South Alabama and Northwest Florida in 2002. He was appointed by Governor Riley to fill an unexpired term as the public member of the Medical Licensure Commission of Alabama and reappointed to a full five-year term in 2006. He has also been active in Boy Scouts of Tukabatchee Area Council, including holding the position of chairman for fundraising for the Ecunchatee District in 2000 and chairman for fundraising for the Tukabatchee Area Council in 2001 and serving on the Board of Directors.
In 2007, Dan was presented the St. George Episcopal Award by the Episcopal Church for distinguished service leading toward the spiritual, physical, mental, and moral development of youth based on service to the Episcopal Church and to the Boy Scouts. He was also awarded the Silver Beaver by the Boy Scouts.
He received his Eagle Scout award on January 19, 1954 and later was elected to the Order of the Arrow and received his God and Country award.
Dan is a member of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Montgomery. He has been married for over 42 years to the former Melanie Monk of Brewton, Alabama. He has two married daughters and four grandchildren.
The award has been granted to such former Eagle Scouts as past President Gerald Ford, Lamar Alexander, John Williard Marriott Jr., Henry Ross Perot, Neil Armstrong, Donald Rumsfield, James Terry Samford, Senator Jeff Sessions, and Admiral Elmo Russell Zumwalt Jr.
The award was presented at a special banquet on Thursday, November 29th, at 6:30 p.m. at the Capital City Club in Montgomery. 61 youth that have achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in the past year were also honored at the event. The constitute the L. Daniel Morris, Jr. class of Eagle Scouts.