Paul B. Van Buren

Paul Bartlett Van Buren was born in Minneapolis, MN, on Oct. 9, 1938, to Ervin P. and Mae (Bartlett) Van Buren, residents of Dell Rapids, SD. 

He attended Dell Rapids Public Schools through his first year of high school and graduated from Tustin [CA] Union High School in 1956.  He earned a B.A. (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of South Dakota in 1960, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity where he made many lifelong friends. 

Paul attended University College of Oxford University in England as a Rhodes Scholar where he read Law, before earning a J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1964. 

He first practiced law with May, Boe & Johnson in Sioux Falls, SD, before relocating to California.  He was Legal Counsel to the Pacific Coast Division of Owens Corning Fiberglas Corp, and then a Department Counsel at General Electric Co.’s Nuclear Energy Division in San Jose, CA.  After the demise of the nuclear power industry, Paul became a Senior Counsel at AT&T/Pacific Bell in San Francisco where he worked on contracts, property tax, and intellectual property matters. After the court-ordered breakup of the Bell System in 1984, he was involved in breaking up the various Bell entities and successfully resolved many antitrust and other litigation cases. Paul retired from AT&T/Pacific Bell in 1994 and for 30 years has provided pro bono legal services through Senior Adults Legal Services (SALA) of San Jose, CA.

Paul and Karen Lynn Harper were married on April 15, 1981, in Los Altos, CA. They were blessed with two children, Erik Harper Van Buren and Amy Van Buren Rhodes, and two grandsons, Max Van Buren Rhodes and Colin Bartlett Rhodes. 

He was a sports fan who played football, basketball, baseball and captained the golf team at Tustin (CA) High School. Paul also played basketball for Oxford University competing against other British universities. He attended the first Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game in Los Angeles in 1958, the first Minnesota Vikings football game (a pre-season game in Sioux Falls in 1961), and the first Oakland A’s baseball game in Oakland in 1968. Paul was a season ticket holder of both Stanford football and basketball for more than 50 years.

Paul continued his close ties to the University of South Dakota, serving as chair of the USD Foundation and vice-chair of the USD Alumni Association and was active with the Farber Fund. He was also Class Correspondent for his Stanford Law class and Class Secretary for his 1960 Rhodes Scholars class. 

Paul’s principal hobby was genealogy, and he was a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants (as the direct descendant of four of the 102 Pilgrims who settled the Plymouth Colony), the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), and The Society of the Cincinnati, an organization founded in 1783 by George Washington and Alexander Hamilton whose members are direct descendants of an officer in the Revolutionary War.

Paul was a long-time member of the Los Altos United Methodist Church, the Los Altos Golf & Country Club and the Oxford & Cambridge Club in London, England. A Kiwanian for over 50 years, he served as president of the Kiwanis Club of San Francisco and as a member of the Kiwanis Clubs of San Jose and Los Altos. He served on the boards of the Los Altos Community Foundation and the Los Altos Cultural Association and as a member and chair of the City of Los Altos Financial Commission.

Paul and Karen traveled extensively, in the U.S. and abroad.  They were nearing the end of a Mississippi River cruise when he was suddenly taken ill and died at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. 

He is survived by his wife Karen, son Erik of Sioux Falls, SD, daughter Amy (Matt) and grandsons Max and Colin, of Washington, DC.

A private family interment was held at Hills of Rest Memorial Park in Sioux Falls.  A memorial service will be held at Los Altos United Methodist Church in August.

Memorials may be directed to the Van Buren Family Scholarship at the University of South Dakota Foundation in Vermillion, SD. 

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