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Daniel J. Rankin ’06

March 11, 2023, suddenly and unexpectedly at home.

Dan was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. A graduate of Marin Catholic High School, Dan made Portland his home after attending Reed College, where he wrote his thesis on “The Unfinished: Symbol and Self in Poetry of William Butler Yeats,” advised by Prof. Ellen Keck Stauder [English 1983–2013]. In 2006 he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English. He received a master’s in education from the Special Education Dual Educator Program at Portland State University in 2013 and spent his professional life in service to the educational needs of underserved children and young adults, first as a special education teacher/specialist and most recently as the academic support and inclusion coordinator for the Community and Career Studies Program at PSU. At the time of his death, he was a doctoral student in special education.

Dan was an excellent cook, brilliant storyteller, scholar, and devoted friend. When not perfecting his pizza recipe or playing, reading, and writing stories with his son Dashiell, Dan enjoyed live music, comedy, and spending time with friends and family.

“Dan was many things—wickedly smart, sweet, salty, and sagacious,” said classmate Claire Foster ’06. “Knowing him was one of the best parts of my time at Reed. Dan and I were in the ‘Paradise Lost’ junior seminar with Prof. Ellen Stauder. We read Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, ending with The Amber Spyglass. This final book and its bittersweet goodbye has always reminded me of Dan.”

Dan is survived by his beloved son, Dashiell; his wife, Jessica Rore Rankin; his mother, Annette Rankin; his father, Jeffrey M. Rankin; his stepmother, Mary J. Ewert; and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Appeared in Reed magazine: Fall 2023

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