JACK DUNCAN

DUNCAN--Jack G. Tireless Advocate For The Disabled, Dies at age 83. Remembered as an advocate for the people, patron of the arts, and faithful friend to many, Jack G. Duncan left an indelible mark on the nation through his hands-on involvement in the development of meaningful legislation on a number of federal acts. According to his colleague and lifelong friend, Joe Owens, Mr. Duncan recently died at his home in Charleston, SC. Mr. Duncan served as counsel and staff director of the Subcommittee on Select Education of the Education and Labor Committee for the U.S. House of Representatives from 1968 to 1979. He then founded his own law firm, Duncan & Associates, which proudly served clients for nearly 30 years. In that role, he advocated for organizations that represented causes he supported. "Jack wanted everything he did to have meaning," said Mr. Owens, whose career in Washington, D.C. often crossed paths with Mr. Duncan's. "When he met somebody new, he made a lasting impression. He had a beatific smile, the kind you couldn't get out of your head. Behind that smile was a driven man in pursuit of making a difference in the world. Being fanatically apolitical allowed Jack to engage with anyone who could advance worthy causes outside the usual political infighting." In his role as Chief Counsel of a subcommittee, Mr. Duncan's rare ability to capture the many ideas that emerged during meetings, and synthesize those ideas into a simple, yet elegant piece of legislation was well-known on Capitol Hill. The federal legislation that bears Mr. Duncan's fingerprints in perpetuity include: the Older Americans Act, the Architectural Barriers Act, the Rehabilitation Act, amendments to the Randolph-Sheppard Act, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, the Age Discrimination Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Art and Artifact Indemnity Act, the Drug Abuse Education Act, as well laws establishing the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment of the Arts and Humanities, and Gallaudet University, a private federally chartered research university for the education of persons who are deaf. Mr. Duncan was a major force behind the development of the Environmental Education Act and the creation of Earth Day. In 2017, Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, named Mr. Duncan a Lifetime Achiever stating, "An accomplished listee, Mr. Duncan celebrates many years' experience in his professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and success he has accrued in his field." Mr. Duncan was also active in the arts and humanities. He served four years as president of the American Council for the Arts, which allowed regular Americans who love and support the arts an opportunity to get involved. He enlisted classic actors such as Theodore Bikel, Colleen Dewhurst, George C. Scott, and Audrey Hepburn to deliver testimony to Congress on behalf of the Council. Born on December 8, 1937 in Horry County, S.C. to Theresa and Jack Duncan, young Jack was diagnosed with polio at the age of four. Because public schools made no accommodations for children with disabilities at the time, his parents began educating their son at home. He went on to attend high school in Marion, SC. The first member of his family to attend college, Mr. Duncan received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Furman University in 1960. As he contemplated his future career, his personal struggles with polio inspired his life-long passion to help others. He went on to attend the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he earned his Juris Doctorate in 1963. During law school, he worked for the South Carolina State Legislature, providing him his first perspective of the innerworkings of government. Upon graduation, Mr. Duncan returned to Marion to work for State Senator J. Ralph Gasque, considered a powerful mover and shaker in the state capital. Several months later, Mr. Duncan accepted his first staff position in Washington D.C. at the U.S. Department of State. Later he served at the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. He was proud of his role there in creating legislation for disabled persons. In 1989, the push to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act backed by President George H. W. Bush began picking up steam on Capitol Hill, garnering rapid bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. Dozens of congressional staffers and private counselors-at-law worked behind the scenes to craft the language of the Act that would ultimately pass with overwhelming support. Amazingly, Mr. Duncan's penned his greatest contribution to the effort years earlier when he inserted Section 504, a nondiscrimination provision into the landmark Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Through his vision and foresight, Mr. Duncan had laid the foundation for the ADA until the time was right for its passage. By many accounts, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was the last meaningful legislation of its kind to pass into federal law. After his official retirement from Capitol Hill, Mr. Duncan continued to serve as general counsel for the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation, and special counsel for the American Council for the Arts. When Mr. Duncan's mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, he recognized that a local church group delivering meals and conversation to elderly residents in the community was often their only visitor. That inspired Mr. Duncan to write federal funding for Meals on Wheels into the Older Americans Act of 1965. Today, Meals on Wheels operates in thousands of communities across the country. For the person who sought meaning in everything he did, Meals on Wheels was his proudest moment. Rarely in life does one encounter someone who has changed the world. Mr. Duncan was one of those people - a brilliant man with the courage and leadership ability required to weave competing groups into a tapestry for the common good in support of arts, persons with mental and/or physical disabilities, the humanities, and many other areas. Mr. Duncan had a servant's heart, and it manifested itself in all that he touched.