Obituaries

• Citation: Vol. 92 No. 5 Pg. 58
• Publication year: 2023
• Pages: 58

Obituaries No. 92 J. Kan. Bar Assn 5, 58 (2023) Kansas Bar Journal October, 2023

September, 2023

David P. Calvert (11/29/1941 - 6/30/2023)

David P. Calvert, 81, passed away Friday, June 30, 2023. He was born on Nov. 29, 1941, in Winfield to Virginia and C.R. Calvert Jr. David contracted polio at age 10 and spent nine months recuperating in Warm Springs, Georgia, using a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He never complained about his "disability," regarding it as no disability at all and the best thing that ever happened to him. "Person first; disability second," he would say.

David graduated from the Washburn University School of Law in 1967 and began his legal career in the Sedgwick County Attorney's Office as an assistant county attorney where he founded the Consumer Protection Division. In 1972, he was elected as a Sedgwick County District Court Judge, at the time the youngest person to be elected to the position. He earned Judge of the Year honors in 1974 and served unopposed until he left the bench in 1984.

David next went into private practice as a partner with Curfman & Harris, and later with his former county attorney friends at Focht, Hughey, Hund & Calvert. As he ventured into solo practice during the mid-1990s, David quickly became an expert on disability rights and the Americans with Disabilities Act, of which he was widely regarded as the authority figure until his passing. He was a rarity, however, and instead of working for pure financial gain, David advocated to solve problems, work with landowners to fix issues and make the community more accessible...