John W Dayton

Mr. John W. Dayton is a Minnesota native and received his early education at The Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut. Upon graduation, Mr. Dayton joined the University of Minnesota as the Assistant Director of Admissions and taught undergraduate speech. His teaching career was interrupted in 1969 by a two-year stint in the military. He entered Texas Tech University School of Law in Lubbock; where he was a distinguished scholar, serving as an editor of the law review and graduating third in his class. Following graduation, he remained in Texas, joining the Dallas firm of Thompson, Knight, Simmons & Bullion, where he specialized in real estate law. After seven years of active practice, Mr. Dayton resigned from Thompson, Knight, Simmons & Bullion in December of 1982. Eleven months later, he opened Routh Street Cafe in Dallas. The restaurant's five-star rating consistently kept it on the list of the nation's premier restaurants. Mr. Dayton introduced an offspring in December of 1985 -- Baby Routh. In October 1987, Goodfellow's and Tejas restaurants, both located in his hometown of Minneapolis, were opened. He has served as Chair of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts, an organization planning the eventual construction of a multi-purpose performing arts complex in the Dallas Arts District. He recently retired as Chairman of the Board of The Dallas Opera, having previously served two years as President. He has served as Chair of The Dallas County Youth Village, a residential treatment facility for juvenile offenders; a Trustee of the Hockaday School, the nation's largest all-girls independent school; an executive committee member of The Dallas Zoological Society; and board member of ChildCare Dallas. He serves as a Director of The Dallas Opera, Inc. He serves on the Board of Trustees of The University of Minnesota Foundation, The Taft School, Watertown, Connecticut and Eaglebrook School, Deerfield, Massachusetts. In April of 1996, Mr. Dayton attended the University of Minnesota at Morris where he graduated in 1968 with a double major in English and Speech.