Daniel Ray Addison Sr.

Dan was born on the 12th of March 1960, in Los Angeles, California, to Esthes Addison and Doreen Krost Davis. Los Angeles in the 1960s was a tumultuous time, with no shortage of challenges for a young African American male, such as Dan. But Dan showed enormous gift and potential at an early age, none of which he squandered. He was raised by his great-grandparents, MK and Gertrude Chavez, to be a true gentleman. He was such an accomplished athlete at Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles that he was awarded a football scholarship to the University of Southern California (USC). But Dan was also awarded an academic scholarship to attend prestigious Claremont McKenna College, in Claremont, California, the first such scholarship ever awarded to an African American. Dan chose Claremont. He graduated from Claremont with a BA in Political Science in 1982. He then moved on to postgraduate studies, receiving his MA in Government from Claremont Graduate University, in 1983, and his JD from the Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC, in 1989. All the while, Dan worked to support himself and pay his graduate school tuitions.

As a newly minted lawyer, Dan began a 30-year public and private legal career in the energy and natural resources sector. His public service was distinguished by a series of Presidential and Gubernatorial appointments. He was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve at the General Services Administration (GSA) from 1985 to 1989, and then President George H.W. Bush tapped him for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Dan then returned to his native California, where Governor Pete Wilson appointed him to the California Department of Conservation from 1994 to 1995.

In 1995, Dan moved to Washington, DC, to join the legal powerhouse Patton Boggs, LLP. There, he rose quickly to become a Partner and served on the firm’s Energy and Natural Resources Practice Group, as well as its Public Policy Group. Dan served in key leadership roles in a number of complex matters that played out at the busy intersection of law, politics, and business. Dan’s work ultimately drew the attention of the global energy company CITGO Petroleum, who hired Dan in 2016 to serve as General Counsel, in Houston. Dan managed complex litigation, in-house lawyers, and numerous outside law firms for CITGO. He also served on several of CITGO’s governance committees.

Dan’s path back to Washington, DC in 1995 was blessedly fortuitous for him because it ultimately led him to Mayra Hunot, a gorgeous and loving Argentine whom he met at a White House Christmas party in 1996. Mayra’s beauty and her Renaissance sensibilities immediately captured Dan’s heart. They fell in love and married in 1997. God blessed them further with the gift of two beautiful children: Daniel in 1999, and Alexa in 2001. Daniel is currently completing a dual degree in economics and engineering from Claremont McKenna, and Columbia University in New York City, New York. Alexa is currently attending the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, where she is majoring in sociology and pre-law.

Tragically, Mayra pre-deceased Dan by almost one month following complications from a brain aneurysm. Dan’s heart and soul ached mightily for those brief few weeks without Mayra. But he joins her now in God’s embrace, where their love for each other lives eternally but also remains expressed here with us through the lives of their beautiful children, Daniel and Alexa. Dan is additionally survived by his sister, Tracey Marie Horne, of Chicago, Illinois; and his uncle and aunt, Jackie and Maggie Krost, of Hilton Head, South Carolina.

The motto for Dan’s high school was, “Don’t flinch, don’t foul, hit the line hard,” which comes from a speech given by the school’s namesake, President Teddy Roosevelt, in 1913. It was advice to a group of young boys to live their lives with gusto but with genuine respect for all others. Dan Addison was that kind of man, a man whose robustness for life combined with a tender and sweet beauty. He was not initially a man of deep faith, but with Mayra’s steadfast example, Dan ultimately formed and nurtured his own faith. He was a child of God, at times vulnerable but always kind to and considerate of others.

Dan’s memorial service will take place at twelve o’clock noon on Saturday, the 27th of November, at the Church of the Little Flower, located at 5607 Massachusetts Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland, 20816.

In lieu of flowers, customary remembrances, the family requests with gratitude that you please consider celebrating Dan’s life with a donation to Claremont McKenna College, 400 N. Claremont Boulevard, Claremont, CA, 91711, or online at: https://online.cmc.edu/giving/donate-online (direct link provided below). Choose “Other” in the “Designation” drop down and type in “Daniel Addison, Sr.”

Remembrances and condolences may be directed to Daniel Addison, Jr., at [email protected]; and to Alexa Addison at [email protected].