Senior Justice (Ret.) Daniel E. Winfrey

Senior Justice (Ret.) Daniel E. Winfree joined the Alaska Supreme Court in January 2008 and became the first Alaska-born Chief Justice on July 1, 2021.  He remained in that position until his constitutionally mandated retirement from full-time active service as a Justice in early February 2023.  He continues serving as a Justice Pro Tem on case assignments when requested by the Court.   

In December 1992 he became a member of the Rotary Club of Fairbanks and is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow.  He served as a feared Sgt. of Arms for a number of years, as a member of the Board of Directors for a number of years, and as the Club President for Rotary’s Centennial Year 2004-05.  Long-time Club members no doubt will recall how he opened every weekly meeting.  Relatedly, at the end of that year he also received the greatly coveted and prestigious Bull Thrower of the Year Award.  But he most enjoyed serving as Past-President.  In December 2007 he resigned from the Club in anticipation of his service on the Alaska Supreme Court.

Born in the Alaska Territory in Fairbanks in 1953, he is the grandson of turn-of-the-century Yukon and Alaska gold rushers.  From 1975 to 1978 he was a truck driver, forklift operator, and warehouseman in pipeline construction camps and Prudhoe Bay.  He received a B.S. in Finance from the University of Oregon in 1977 and in 1981 received M.B.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.  Admitted to the Alaska Bar Association in 1982, he spent twenty-three years in private practice in Anchorage, Valdez, and Fairbanks, working with large firms, small firms, and as a sole practitioner.  He left private practice to serve as the Executive Director and General Counsel for The Greater Fairbanks Community Hospital Foundation for the last two years before he joined the Alaska Supreme Court.  He served nine years on the Alaska Bar Association Board of Governors, was President of the Alaska Bar Association in 1994-95, and was President of the Western States Bar Conference in 1997-98.  The Alaska Bar Association presented him its Distinguished Service Award in 2007.