A dedicated attorney with a great sense of humor, Don Duft will be remembered for the keen wit and zest for life that he has shown others in the years this world was blessed to have him here. He passed Sunday, January 20, 2013 at age 91.
Born in Waddams Grove, Illinois January 23, 1921, to Walter and Ruth Duft, Don was one of three children growing up in a depression- and prohibition-era family. He attended Vanderbilt University and then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force as a radio engineer, after which he received his Electrical Engineering degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He also received a Juris Doctor degree, an LLB (cum laude), and an LLM (masters in trade regulation) from New York University Law School. He was a registered patent attorney with over 50 years of patent law experience, specializing in world-wide patent prosecution and technology agreements, and copyright, trademark and trade secret matters.
With his wife Donna Duft, he had three children and settled in Summit, NJ in 1954, to begin his practice as a patent attorney with Bell Telephone Laboratories. Don was widowed in 1982. He later married D’Ann James in Boulder in 1983.
Don moved his family to Boulder in 1971 and was formerly the Manager of Intellectual Property Matters at AT&T/Bell Laboratories at its facility in Broomfield. During his career with AT&T/Bell Labs, Don successfully prosecuted pioneering patents on such critical technologies as computers, memories, transistors, intelligent networks, and Internet systems. Don served also as an Examiner at the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office and is an inventor with two issued U. S. patents.
Don’s nature was expressed with his involvement with numerous activities. He dearly loved traveling with D’Ann, skiing, mountain climbing in Colorado and around the world, and avidly supported his Colorado Buffaloes and Denver Bronco football teams. He was fun to be around! He loved tinkering with electronics and cars, and built our first color TV.
Don is survived by his wife D’Ann; sons Walter Duft of Buffalo, NY and Bradford Duft of San Diego, CA; six grandchildren, Brandon Duft, Andrew Duft, Kelly Duft, Lauren Duft, Kathryn Duft and Emily Duft; one great-grandchild Lyla Grace Duft; and numerous step-children, step-grandchildren and step great-grandchildren from the James side of the family!
His family would like to express their gratitude to the staff at Boulder Community Hospital for their help after Don took ill in December 2011.
Our husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather will leave a void in our lives and our sadness of his death is tempered by the joy that he will be reuniting with his loved ones.
Crist Mortuary 3395 Penrose Place, Boulder, CO, 80301 is serving the family. A memorial service will take place Friday, January 25, 2013, at 2 p.m. in the chapel of the First Presbyterian Church in Boulder by Associate Minister John Hess.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made in his name to the University of Colorado Foundation.
Condolences may be shared at www.cristmortuary.com.
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