Mark J. Hanna

HANNA, Mark James died May 23, 2025, at the age of 77 in Austin, TX. Mark was born September 24, 1947, on Walker Air Force Base - Strategic Air Command, Roswell, NM, to Col. Keith C. and Bettye Bennett Hanna. He married Deborah Shelton Hanna in November 1980, and together they had one child, Mark James Hanna Jr. As an Air Force kid and son of a Colonel, he lived and traveled many places but always considered his Mother's hometown, Greenville, TX, his home base. He summered there most every year of his youth with his Mother; sister, Jill; Grandmother, Inez; and a very large extended family of Bennetts, Cantrells, and Omohundros.

Mark attended public schools in Montgomery, AL; Topeka, KS; Lake Charles, LA; and Austin, TX. Most notably, he was an elementary student at the Topeka school that led to the implementation of the landmark Supreme Court ruling, Brown v. Board of Education. His 2nd grade class was the first integrated in the district following the ruling.

He graduated from the Austin High School Rio Grande campus in 1965. He loved Austin High and made many life-long friends. Rather than follow his parents to Washington D.C. for his father’s assignment at the Pentagon in June of 1965, he enrolled at UT Austin, moved immediately into Roberts Dormitory and joined Sigma Alpha Epsilon, followed by UT Law School. He never left Austin again for any extended period except for assignments in the US Army, serving honorably as Airborne Combat Medic. He attended Jump School at Fort Benning, GA.

Mark is survived by his wife, Debbie, of 45 years; son, Mark James Hanna, Jr. and granddaughter, Catherine Quail Hanna, of Houston; and niece, Sommer Pruitt of Aiken, SC. He is also survived by extended family Lori Shelton Roos; Suzie and Gary Williford, Jordan, Derek, Hayes and Quinn Watson; Clayton and Kaitlin Williford; and treasured friend, his legal assistant of 38 years always at his side, Denese Mosley. He is also survived by sons, Todd and Trent Hanna.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Jill Hanna Pruitt.

Mark was a devoted son, brother, husband, father, grandfather and uncle. Through his Mother, he was a direct descendant of Texas Governor James Throckmorton. Mark was a loyal friend. He had a love and appreciation for the outdoors and all animals great and small, fostered by his earliest days as a Boy Scout and Eagle Scout. His interests were all related to the outdoors and included horseback riding, hiking, boating, fishing, duck hunting, and most of all, working his beloved yellow British Labs, Ace, Jock, and Rip, in and around the waters of Aransas Bay. A solid ski boat driver of great skill and patience, beginning in high school, he made countless memories and trips pulling kids on skis, slaloms, wakeboards, kneeboards and tubes up and down Lake Austin. He loved the Texas Longhorns; especially, Longhorn football.

Mark was a very simple man with an incredible work ethic and impeccable manners. His character, measured in the words of his favorite Coach Royal, was that he treated all as if they could do nothing for him.

A respected attorney and successful lobbyist, he assisted in passing many important bills into law that have stood the test of time. A brilliant legal mind, Mark’s simple but impactful use of words transformed the professional practices of thousands of Texas licensees, their patients, and clients. His practice reach supported the Realtors, Dentists, Podiatrists, Surveyors, Engineers, Speech and Hearing Therapists, Social Workers and Registered Nurses. He relished the days, as he often put it, that after 5 p.m., no one much knew or cared was D or R. Legislative Sessions were full of 18-hour work days but much goodwill, Spoke-Dancing with the Speaker's friends, liberal and conservative alike, raucous Sine Die parties with bands and bars in the halls of the Capitol, Senate pages impersonating their sponsor on the Senate floor, and Sine Die nights when the assistant Sargeant would hang over the gallery rail to roll back the hands of the chamber clock before it struck midnight. Although part of days gone by, these were the times that he loved.

Services in memory and honor of Mark will be held Saturday, May 31, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. at The Episcopal Church of The Good Shepherd– 3201 Windsor Rd., Austin, TX 78703.

The family requests that donations be made in his memory to The Darrell K Royal Research Fund for Alzheimer’s Disease (www.dkrfund.org) or the Friends 4 Life Animal Shelter (www.friends4life.org) founded by family friend, Don Sanders.