David Ryrie Brink (July 28, 1919 – July 20, 2017) was an American attorney fromMinnesota and a formerpresident of theAmerican Bar Association.[1]
Born inMinneapolis,[2] Brink was a specialist inestate planning. After graduating from the University of Minnesota and beginning law school at the U of M, he left to become a cryptographer in the Navy decoding Japanese messages in Washington, D.C., during World War II. He achieved rank of lieutenant commander. After WWII David Brink returned to the U of M Law School and finished his law degree. He graduated from theUniversity of Minnesota and theUniversity of Minnesota Law School and joined the Minnesota law firm ofDorsey & Whitney.[3]
While leading the ABA in 1981, Brink battledCongress in an attempt to secure the independence of the federal court system.[4]
Brink's parents were mathematics professorRaymond W. Brink (1890–1973) and authorCarol Ryrie Brink (1895–1981).[3] They met as teenagers inMoscow, Idaho, in 1909 and were married nine years later.[5] Married for 55 years, they had two children, David and Nora (Hunter).[6]
Brink married Mary Helen Wangensteen (1925–2010) in 1950 and they had four children; Mary, Anne,David, and Sarah, and eight grandchildren. They later divorced, but were on good terms at the time of her death.[7] His second wife, Irma Marie Lorentz Bong Brink, died in March 2008 at age 82.[8] David Brink died on July 20, 2017, at the age of 97, 8 days before his 98th birthday.[9]