David Shanks, 75, of Vero Beach, passed away peacefully on April 8, 2015.
He is survived by his beloved wife, Rosalie Shadle Shanks; daughter Nanon Shanks Olson (Carl Frederick Olson), of Marietta, Ga., and their three children Kyle Gustav Olson, David Hayward Olson and Elizabeth Leas Olson, and his son, Andrew MacPherran Shanks (Keri Lester Shanks), of Woodbridge, Va., and their daughter, Elizabeth Lynn Shanks.
He was preceded in death by his devoted wife of 49 years, Cynthia Worcester Shanks, and his daughter, Kirsten Conant Shanks, and survived by her husband, Brendan Michael Halpin, and daughter, Rowen Shanks Halpin, of Jamaica Plain, Mass. His brother, George Warren Shanks (Janice Butler Shanks), of Front Royal, Va., and sister, Susan Florence Biel, of Gainesville, Fla., also survive.
Born Aug. 2, 1939 in Indianapolis, Ind., he was the elder son of John Amos Shanks and Jane Marie Griesser.
Shanks graduated from Cornell University in 1962 with a BME, followed with an MBA from the University of Delaware in 1968. During his Cornell years, he was a member of the Cornell crew team and the Sherwoods, a men’s a capella singing group.
His distinguished career spanned 38 years and included positions with the DuPont Corporation in Wilmington, Del., and Eastern Airlines in New York City. In 1974 he joined Arthur D. Little in Cambridge, MA. He began in manufacturing consulting, and later shifted to business strategy.
Shanks became Vice President and Managing Director of the New England Region of ADL and served on its Board. In 1997 he joined Sunoco, Inc. in Philadelphia as Vice President of human resources, public affairs and strategic planning, retiring in 2000.
In retirement, Shanks briefly ran his own firm, Silvershell Consulting, in Marion, Mass., named for the beach in front of his home. He sailed, golfed, read voraciously, took piano lessons for the second time, sang in several groups, and became a certified scuba diver.
Somehow in this busy life, Shanks always made quality time for his family and friends. Relationships were priceless to him. He belonged to various organizations: Phi Kappa Psi Chapter at Cornell University, Algonquin Club in Cambridge, Mass.; Beverly Yacht Club and the Sippican Choral Society in Marion, Mass.; Country Club of New Bedford, Mass; Springhaven Club in Wallingford, Penn.; and Orchid Island Golf and Beach Club, Orchid.
He was affiliated with the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Wayland, Mass., First Congregational Church, Marion, Mass., Big Canoe Chapel, Big Canoe, Ga., and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Vero Beach.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his memory to the Factor V Leiden’s “National Blood Clot Alliance”: www.donatenow.networkforgood.org/StopTheClot.bServices will be held in Vero Beach at 2 p.m., Sunday, May 24, at Orchid Island Golf and Beach Club and in Marion, Mass., at 12 p.m. on Saturday, July 11, in Tabor Academy’s Wickenden Chapel.