John Theodore Palter

February 20, 1960 – April 2, 2022

John was born February 20, 1960 in Oak Park, Illinois and grew up in Berwyn, a suburb of Chicago, attending St. Leonard Catholic School through 8th grade. Childhood days were filled with riding paper routes, watching pennies get flattened on the tracks by passing trains, engaging in enormous snow fort battles, and enjoying the loving traditions formed in the home of his parents, Ted and Jo Palter, along with his sisters and brother, Mary Jo, Cathy and Bill. He formed lifelong friendships participating in gymnastics at Sokol Tabor in Berwyn. Educated by the Dominicans at Fenwick High School, where he competed in swimming and diving, he entered Northern Illinois University, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, and was elected to office in student government. In 1985, he graduated from Drake University Law School, where he was admitted to the Order of Barristers and Delta Theta Phi. Not satisfied with simply a law degree, he earned a CPA credential while employed in the Tax Law department at Coopers & Lybrand in Dallas, Texas, his first post-graduate position.

John’s distinguished career as a commercial litigator began when he joined the venerable Dallas law firm of Geary, Stahl & Spencer in 1989. Admired for his work ethic and analytical skills, he was notorious for being an early adopter of technology, insisting on drafting his own pleadings and correspondence on a chunky 8086 desktop computer, a practice the law partners viewed skeptically as merely “typing.” From this auspicious beginning, John built a legal career that spanned over 30 years and weathered mergers, new collaborations, and life changes -- and he could always be counted on to “fix the server or something” when colleagues encountered computer problems.

In his desk drawer, John kept a small black notebook of plastic sleeves into which he slid every single business card he ever carried, beginning with Chicago’s menswear merchant “Capper & Capper,” where he worked early on as a sales clerk. Turning the pages is like a stroll through the legal geneaology of Dallas—neatly preserved cards engraved with the names Geary, Stahl & Spencer, Geary Glast & Middleton, Holmes Millard & Duncan, McCue & Lee, Novakov Davis, and Davis Munck. The final pages reflect that John co-founded the law firm of Riney Palter PLLC with Theodore J. Riney in 2009 -- a few years later establishing Palter Stokley Sims & Wright PLLC with William Craig Stokley, Kimberly M.J. Sims and Robert G. Wright II. At his death in 2022, he was fully immersed in a busy commercial litigation and business counseling practice with law partners Kimberly M.J. Sims and Nathanial L. Martinez as Palter Sims Martinez, PLLC.

To fully serve his clients’ needs, John was admitted to practice in many jurisdictions, including all the federal districts in Texas, the 5th Circuit and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals, the United States Tax Court and the Supreme Court of the United States – and even found himself called to the Bar of New Mexico, Land of Enchantment, in 2011.

A Fellow of the Dallas Bar Foundation, the Texas Bar Foundation, and the American Bar Foundation, John taught Continuing Legal Education courses and business seminars, focusing primarily on the challenges facing small-to-medium businesses in a rapidly evolving marketplace. He was frequently tapped by the Dallas Business Journal as a features author, most recently in late 2021, when he offered suggestions for navigating vaccine mandates and return-to-office initiatives during the pandemic.

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John and Kathy met as colleagues at Geary, Stahl & Spencer. True to his Chicago roots, John was an enthusiastic polka dancer, and memorable dates included polka-dancing at the Czech Club in southeast Dallas. Ballroom lessons followed, and their decades of dancing together began. John adored their two children, Luke and Eliza, and was their biggest fan, whether at a ballet recital, band concert, graduation ceremony, theater performance or film screening.

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John’s Catholic faith was elemental. Once he found his parish home at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Dallas, he looked for meaningful ways to engage and contribute. John’s brand of servant leadership harmonized beautifully with the charism of the Vincentian Fathers who founded the parish, and over the years, he chaired the Parish Council, served on the Pastor’s Finance Council, the Steward Committee, and the Parish Leadership Team, was a faithful member of the Lector and Eucharistic Minister Teams for the 11:00 Mass, and taught Sixth Grade Faith Formation with Kathy. In 2008, he and Kathy were honored to be admitted to the spiritual family of St. Vincent de Paul as Vincentian affiliates, and John’s work for his parish community was publicly recognized in 2017, when he received a Bishop’s Award for Service to the Church in the Parish and in the Diocese. It will surprise no one to learn that in 2020, John decided he needed to take a breather from management-type board positions, and joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society, where he could directly help one person at a time, in a very hands-on way.

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John’s essential kindness and generosity led him to work with numerous philanthropic and social innovation organizations of all types. Just a few examples include Dallas Social Venture Partners, IgNite, SVP International, First 3 Years, Junior Players, and the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, where he served on the Executive Board.

John thrived on physical exercise. In early adulthood, he took up running (finishing marathons in Dallas, Chicago and New York) and never missed an opportunity to sign the whole family up for a Turkey Trot or Jingle Bell Run whenever he could, often notifying surprised friends that he had “accidentally” signed them up, too.

Cycling was a lifelong obsession. Childhood casual cycling expeditions transitioned to long-haul rides like the MS150, the “Hotter than Hell 100” and the Des Moines Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (“RAGBRAI”) which he completed twice, dipping his bike’s tires in the Missouri River at the beginning and the Mississippi River at the end. And, of course, he was That Dad who taught his kids how to ride their very first two-wheelers – perhaps slightly before they were absolutely ready. He delighted in the ways they have each adapted his cycling “gene” – Luke with his unicycling and endurance road cycling, and Eliza, who fearlessly navigates the streets of Brooklyn on bright blue CitiBikes in varying states of repair.

With his parents and siblings, John visited 49 of the 50 states, perfecting the art of the long road trip. With Kathy, Luke and Eliza, and adventurous friends and extended family, he loved traveling by planes, trains and automobiles, throughout the United States and in England, France and Italy. And although none of his family members were brave enough to join him, in 2019 he achieved ASA certification in Bareboat Cruising in the Caribbean on a 45-foot Jeanneau.

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Well-aware of the imperfect world we live in, John’s focus was nevertheless on the silver lining in every set-back, the lesson learned from every misstep, and the goodness he found in every human being. A man of God, he loved his family, friends, colleagues and collaborators with the whole of his generous heart. Few people know that John began taking piano lessons about ten years before his death. He didn’t care to perform for others; he simply loved making music and learning yet another new skill. His favorite song to play in the evenings was “Imagine.”

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Along with many, many beloved friends, colleagues and extended family members, John is survived by his wife of 30 years Kathy (Bagwell) Palter and their son Luke (27) and their daughter Eliza (24), his sisters Mary Jo (Palter) Jarzen and her husband, John, of Jacksonville, Illinois and Cathlyn (Palter) Kalchbrenner and her husband, Ken, of Surprise, Arizona; his brother William “Bill” Joseph Palter and his wife, Carol (Slowinski) Palter, of Countryside, Illinois; adopted son of the family John Kufrin and his wife, Sue Ann, along with their sons, Benjamin, Andrew and Cody, of Lisle, Illinois; his nieces Candice (Galassi) Charobee, Lindsey Galassi, Ariah Palter and Alana Palter and Grand-niece Cora Colleen Jarzen; his nephews Steven Jarzen, Brian Jarzen and his wife, Caitlin (Copper Leehey) Jarzen, Jacob Jarzen and his wife, Jordan (Mekus) Jarzen and Peter Jarzen.

John is preceded in death by his parents, Theodore Joseph Palter and Josephine (Juozapa-Zofija Tribicaite/Workman) Palter, and his father-in-law S.M. Bagwell, mother-in-law Jill (Slater) Bagwell and sister-in-law Karen Lynn Bagwell.

John’s servant leadership was a seal on his heart. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a gift to one of the following organizations in John’s memory:

Society of St. Vincent de Paul

https://svdpdallas.org/

Junior Players

https://www.juniorplayers.org/

IGNiTE

https://txwf.org/ignite-in-texas/

Operation Kindness

https://www.operationkindness.org/

Congregation of the Mission: The Vincentians

https://www.vincentian.org/

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.gonzalezfuneralsdallas.com for the PALTER family.