Biography: Darrell D. Dover, prominent Little Rock attorney, died at Little Rock Tuesday, March 17, 2009. Mr. Dover was born to the late Opal Copes Dover and the late Douglas Olen Dover on May 22, 1933. He attended grades one through six in the Cove Public schools. The family moved to Mena in 1945 and Mr. Dover attended grades seven through twelve at the Mena schools graduating in 1951 as valedictorian of his class. Following graduation from high school he enrolled in the pre-law course at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville which was completed in two years. He then moved on to law school at the University at Fayetteville which, at the time, offered a special four year course in law. At the University, Darrell was active in various campus organizations and was a member of Acacia social fraternity, Blue Key honor fraternity and Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity. At the law school, he served as special assistant to the Dean in 1954-55 and as associate editor of the Arkansas Law Review in 1956-57. His grades in law school courses were uniformly high and he regularly appeared on the Dean’s list of students deserving recognition for academic excellence. He graduated, with honors, in 1957, receiving the Bachelor of Science in law degree (based on special four year course of study) and the more usual Bachelor of Law degree (later converted to a Doctor of Jurisprudence). After graduation from the University School of Law in 1957, Mr. Dover joined the Little Rock law firm known then as House, Holmes, Roddy, Butler and Jewell, and, except for absence for six months in late 1957 and early 1958 for a tour of active duty as a legal officer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey, practiced law in Little Rock with various successors to that firm until his retirement at the end of 2007. Most recently, Mr. Dover served as senior member and Managing Partner of Dover & Dixon (now Dover Dixon Horne PLLC) for seventeen years from 1990 through 2007. Mr. Dover’s practice has become specialized in the areas of real estate, real estate financings, commercial and corporate law. Mr. Dover authored Arkansas’ present Condominium Law and created the first condominium in the state of Arkansas. He has lectured on numerous occasions to professional groups in the fields of real estate, banking and finance, and, several years has served as a Judge of Moot Court competitions at the University of Arkansas. Mr. Dover has supervised, as lead attorney, numerous loan transactions and acquisitions of real estate properties totaling many hundreds of millions of dollars for local and national banks, insurance companies and the two largest public pension funds in the State of Arkansas. At the time of his death, Mr. Dover was an active Fellow of the American College of Mortgage (ACMA) attorneys and an active Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL). But ACMA and ACREL are membership by invitation only national organizations of attorneys with expertise in the field of real estate and real estate financing. He was also a member of the Pulaski County, the Arkansas and the American Bar Associations. He was a member Banking Section and the Real Estate Section of the Arkansas Bar Association and the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law and the Corporation, Banking and Business Law ions of the American Bar Association. He was, and has been for many years, listed as one of the Best Lawyers in America, in a publication of that name in the field of real estate. Dover was also honored recently by being named to a group put together by Arkansas Business as “the leadership group of business and professionals in Central Arkansas”. He was quite pleased and honored in 2003 to be awarded the Ransick Award of Excellence of the Arkansas Bar and Arkansas Bar Association for his dedication, leadership and extraordinary services to the law profession. Dover has said that one of the finest honors he has received in his extensive career of over 50 years occurred in late 2006 when the Arc Arkansas honored him by naming an award program which The Arc was creating as “The Dover Award(s)”. The Arc is a non-profit charitable corporation catering to developmentally disabled individuals. Dover had worked with The Arc in his role as an attorney. The Dover Awards consist of scholarships awarded to deserving young people who are developmentally disabled. Mr. Dover had been a member of, and active in the affairs of, Asbury United Methodist Church, 1700 Napa Valley Drive, Little Rock, for over 40 years. He had served on virtually every committee at the church and had been Chairman of both the Administrative Board and the Board of Trustees at the church. The family would like thank, American Home Care for Seniors, Arkansas Hospice, Dr. Marianne Harrington, Dr. Sue Ulmer, Dr. John Brizzolara, and Lou Lakin ( his secretary of 30 years ). In 1954 Dover and his high school sweetheart, Barbara Brown, were married and have enjoyed over 54 years of marriage since. Darrell has frequently declared his love for Barbara and what a great asset she has been to him throughout their entire marriage and especially in recent times when his activities became more limited. In addition to Barbara survivors include a son, Douglas Dover of Dallas, Texas; a daughter, Darrellyn Green, of Little Rock; a son-in-law, Forest Green of Little Rock; a grandson, Darrell Green, of Little Rock; step grandchild, Jason Green and wife Kim, step great grand daughter, Megan Green; a sister, Betty McLendon of Fort Smith; a father-in-law, R.C. Brown of Little Rock; two nieces, Cathy Spivey of Little Rock and Deborah Mathis of North Little Rock; and a grand niece, Ellen Spivey of Little Rock and a grand nephew, John Spivey , now of New York City, New York. There will be a memorial service on Friday, March 20, at 10:00AM at Asbury United Methodist Church with Rev. David Moore officiating. Arrangements under the direction of Ruebel Funeral Home, www.ruebelfuneralhome.com. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, that memorials be made to Asbury United Methodist Church, 1700 Napa Valley Dr., Little Rock, AR 72212.