WILLIAM A LANE JR's Obituary
William A. Lane (Bill), died on Tuesday November 3rd, 2015 one day after his 92nd birthday. He was born in Tucson, Arizona on November 2nd, 1923 but moved with his family to Miami in 1925. He attended public schools in Miami and was a member of the 1940 graduating class of Miami Senior High. As a 1944 graduate of Duke University, he was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy. He served as third officer on a submarine chaser based out of Guantanamo Naval base in Cuba until his discharge in1946. After the war, he obtained his juris doctor degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1949. Upon graduation, he founded Lane Title & Trust Company of Phoenix Arizona, building it into one of the largest and leading title and trust companies in Arizona, which he sold in 1955. He joined his father, William A. Lane, Sr., in the practice of law as Lane, Lane, French, Prim and Carrier in Miami. With his father, he founded the Guardian Title Insurance. He was also an original franchisee of the Wendy’s establishing restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area and the Monterey Peninsula in California. On retiring at an early age, he served as President of the Dunspaugh-Dalton Foundation, a philanthropy that over the years has financially endowed and supported numerous charitable and cultural organizations in Florida and elsewhere. Mr. Lane also served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Duke University for many years and was a member of SAE fraternity. His wife, Alexina H. Lane, of Coral Gables, survives Mr. Lane alongside his three daughters, Elizabeth Lane Bacardi (Facundo) of Coral Gables, Alexina Bowden Skoff (Michael) of Bethesda, Maryland, Charlotte Mills Sheldon (James), of Carmel, California, and his 8 grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 4 pm on Saturday, November 7, at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 5690 North Kendall Drive, South Miami. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Duke University, or Palmer-Trinity School.
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