JOHN HANNA

HANNA--John, Jr., died at home on December 25, 2019. John was born in 1934 and raised in New York City and summered in Woods Hole, MA. A 1956 graduate of Princeton, he went on to graduate from Harvard Law. In 1958, he married Jane Merchant, from Minneapolis. Theirs was a wonderful marriage, lasting 60 years, producing three children, nine grandchildren, and many happy moments together. John's career began in the New York United States District Attorney's office, later progressing to Deputy Commissioner and General Counsel for the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation. In 1975, he co-founded the Albany firm of Whiteman, Osterman, and Hanna, now the largest in Albany. Mr. Hanna concentrated on the emerging area of environmental law, working on some of the biggest cases of the time; Love Canal in Niagara Falls, NY and the Hudson River contamination. John was active in his community; with 35 years on the Chatham Planning Board, Chairmanship of the New York State Archives Trust, and Trusteeship of the Olana Partnership. However, perhaps his proudest civic contribution was the Old Chatham 4th of July Parade. In 1980, he and another neighborhood couple, started a parade to celebrate the 4th of July which now has over a thousand participants every year. John was predeceased by his wife, Jane, in 2017. He is survived by three children: Elizabeth Hanna Morss, husband Stephen Morss, and children Alexandra, Abigail, and Caroline; Katharine Hanna Morgan and children Sarah, Jasper, Lucy, and Annie; and John Merchant Hanna, wife Kimberly Davis Hanna, and children Will and Genevieve. He is also survived by sisters Margaret Hanna Jones and Cornelia Hanna McMurtrie and predeceased by Elisabeth Hanna von Braitenberg.