Obituary of David Lee Shumway

Long-time Algona attorney and philanthropist David Lee Shumway died Tuesday, Sept. 6, in a Sioux Falls, S.D., hospital after a short illness. He was born on March 21, 1931, to Gaylord and Gladys (Obrecht) Shumway. Dave was graduated from Algona High School in 1949. He attended Texas Christian University for two years, transferred to Drake University and then was graduated from the University of Iowa Law School. He returned to his hometown in 1958 to join his father's law firm, Shumway, Kelly and Fristedt, and remained in the practice of law there until his semi-retirement. He remained Of Counsel with the same law firm, which evolved over the years into the Peterson and Lipps firm. He spent summers at his cottage in Spirit Lake and winters near his sister and her family in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He was a dedicated fisherman, casting his line both in Spirit Lake and, for many years, while vacationing in Mexico. He always returned to Algona for board meetings of foundations on which he served as a member. Todd Buchanan, president of the Kossuth County Bar Association, noted: "Dave was a well-respected attorney and friend to all in the Kossuth County Bar Association. As is true with many senior members of the bar, he devoted much of his time in later years to charitable causes. His wisdom and guidance to those organizations will be greatly missed." Kirk Hayes, who served on a number of charitable boards with him, said, "Dave provided valued mutual fund, investment research, guidance and counsel to a number of local foundations. His legacy is reflected in the financial strength of our community's most successful foundations. Early in the developing years of the Algona Community School Foundation, Dave contributed investment advice and for many years served on its investment committee and as a board member. The Kossuth Regional Health Center Foundation also benefited because of Dave's investment expertise in his service as a member of its investment committee. Just a few years ago, realizing his career was winding down, he was instrumental in leading the way to recommend an outside financial advisor for many of the foundations — in other words, he made sure we were left in good hands — maybe his greatest legacy!" Attorney Gregg Buchanan, long-time friend of Dave's, penned this tribute: "It was in his retirement that his gifts to the community flourished. Dave was an avid investor. He voraciously read many publications, educating himself on investments and eventually developed his own theories. Instead of merely investing his own funds, he put his unique skills to work on behalf of many Algona non-profits. Without compensation or even reimbursement of his expenses, Dave worked for more than 20 years investing millions of dollars for numerous local charities, regularly out-performing professional managers. "He served as an unpaid advisor to other local charities in managing their investments. He spent thousands of hours in this work and as a direct result, those charities gained millions of dollars from his efforts. Many of those dollars benefited Algona high school students and their parents through increased scholarship money. Through Dave's expertise, he grew most of these portfolios so well that they have been able to give away more than their original funding while still growing beyond their original size." Buchanan also noted that Dave would not approve of his tribute, because he rejected any recognition for his efforts. "Nothing gave him more pleasure than seeing the results of his efforts in the form of large financial gifts to local students. His reward was in those gifts," Buchanan concluded. In addition to his other charitable giving, Dave's philanthropy also reached a few four-legged friends. Always a dog lover, some years ago Dave enabled the Algona Dog Pound to have heated water dishes for the pups there during Iowa's freezing winters. In a letter to the Kossuth County Bar Association announcing his semi-retirement, Dave's unique sense of humor shone through: "I wanted each of you to know of my semi-retirement from the practice of law, not necessarily at the suggestion of the Grievance Committee of the Iowa State Bar Association. This announcement is retroactive to whenever I first became comatose, which most of my clients reckon at circa 1960 — I plan to retain my membership in the Kossuth County and Iowa State Bar Associations, since someone else is paying for them." Dave is survived by his sister, Sandra Shumway (Daniel) Howe, Sherman Oaks, Calif.; nephews, Christopher (Lori) and Stephen (Amy) Howe and niece, Rebecca Howe (David) Tanen, along with his great nieces and nephews Alexa, Keoleihi, Andrew, Grant, Luke and Dylan. All of the families live in the Los Angeles area but enjoyed summer trips to the Iowa Great Lakes where they could fish with Dave. His pride in and love for his nephews and niece, grand nephews and grand nieces, knew no bounds.