Dan Garber is being remembered for his tough and aggressive work during his 30 years in the Livingston County Prosecutor’s office; his loyalty to his colleagues and his dedication to those he served; as well as for his love of the outdoors, his intelligence and sharp wit, and his love of short-sleeved shirts.
Brighton resident Garber, 69, died Sunday after a short illness.
Former Livingston County Prosecutor David Morse, who hired Garber as his chief assistant when he was first elected in 1988, described him as the “moral compass” of the office.
Garber and Morse first worked together as assistant prosecutors for Frank DelVero, who went on to become a Livingston County District Court judge. DelVero said that he and his wife, Josephine, “loved Dan like a son.”
“I am pretty upset right now,” DelVero said.
The relationship between the DelVeros and Garber stretched all the way back to when the DelVeros were teaching in the Hartland Consolidated Schools District; they first met Garber in 1968, when he was in the eighth grade.
“He was Livingston County, beginning to the end,” DelVero said of Garber, who graduated from Hartland High School in 1972.
“I taught him history in the ninth grade, and I was his football coach,” DelVero said, describing Garber a “unique kid.”
“He wasn’t showy, and he wasn’t worried about being a big shot,” he said.
Josephine DelVero, who had Garber in her first-hour ninth-grade English class and served as his school counselor, agreed.
“He was never one to be the center of attention,” she said. “But on closer observation, you would note that he was the planner, the organizer, and the brains behind many events in school.”
His behind-the-scenes talent continued on to his work and in the community at large.
“Looking back at pictures of events, I realized that Dan was an organizer of several of them, but he was rarely in the pictures.”
She recalled that even as a 14-year-old, Garber demonstrated a “lifelong sharp wit, intelligence, and the ability to make astute observations of people and events around him.”
Those abilities served Garber well in his legal career.
“He handled appeals for many years,” Morse said. “He was highly intelligent, and he was a gifted writer.”
Frank DelVero agreed, describing Garber as a “wordsmith.”
“He could write and convince in a brief or a memorandum or an appeal,” Del Vero said, “and he usually came out on top.”
Born and raised on a lake in Hartland, Garber went on to live on a lake in Brighton with his wife, Roxanne, his high school sweetheart to whom he was married for 48 years. Together they had four daughters: Katherine Potter, Christina Ilijanic, Alexandra Garber, and Andrea Krieg; as well as nine granddaughters: Brynn, Maya, Daphne, Caroline, Vera, Laura, Eve, Carla, and Isabelle.
“His four daughters and his nine granddaughters were the true loves of his life,” Morse said.
An avid outdoorsman, Garber loved to hunt and fish.
Morse recalled that prior to the Livingston County Prosecutor’s Office going paperless, Garber’s computer skills consisted mainly of playing solitaire.
“But once the move was made to go paperless, Dan was the first one to learn the system,” Morse said. “I used him as an example for the computer-reluctant staff members.”
Facebook posts remember Garber as a law-and-order prosecutor, a curmudgeon, and a true original.
Frank DelVero said Garber always wore whatever he wanted. “Even as an attorney, he didn’t worry about wearing a suit,” he said.
“He wasn’t the loudest person in the room, and he wasn’t the most fashionable; I remember the short-sleeved, plaid shirts,” Josephine DelVero said. “But he was the person paying the most attention, for sure. After everyone else talked and tossed out all kinds of ideas, Dan was the one who distilled them and succinctly outlined a plan of action. If you were planning an event, running for office, or making day-to-day decisions, you definitely wanted Dan on your side.”
You can read Garber’s obituary by clicking here.
