Dan died July 15, 2002, by his own hand at his home in Grand Junction, CO. He was 53 years old. Dan was born in Denver, CO and graduated from the University in Boulder in 1972.

He started work with the Forest Service in 1970 on the Dillon, Colorado District and was on a Helitack crew in Naches, WA in 1976. Dan spent a year on Helitack in Alaska before his rookie year at Fairbanks in 1980. He always said that smokejumping was the highest calling of mankind.

Dan was supervisor for the Mesa County Probation Department at the time of his death.