Dan K. Moore

Daniel Killian Moore (April 2, 1906September 7, 1986) was the 66th Governor of the state of North Carolina from 1965 to 1969. Life and career Daniel Killian Moore was born in Asheville, North Carolina, on April 2, 1906 to Fred Moore and Lela Enloe. His father was a superior court judge. Upon his death two year's after Dan's birth, the family moved to Jackson County. Moore earned a bachelor degree in commerce in 1927 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a law degree in 1929 from the University of North Carolina School of Law where he was a member of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and was selected to Phi Beta Kappa. He practiced law in Sylva, North Carolina and served a term in the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1941 before entering the U.S. Army in 1943 during World War II. While in the army, he served in the medical and judge advocate departments, with 13 months of service in the Europe. He was discharged in October 1945 as an enlisted soldier. After the war, Moore served as a North Carolina Superior Court judge from 1948 to 1958. Subsequently, Moore served as counsel for the Champion Papers company in Canton, North Carolina, while also serving on the state Board of Water Resources. He left Champion to run for Governor in 1964. He was seen as the moderate in the Democratic primary, between the conservative I. Beverly Lake, Sr. and the more progressive L. Richardson Preyer. Moore won a primary runoff with Preyer. He was sworn-in on January 8, 1965. After serving one term as governor (North Carolina governors were not then eligible to be re-elected), Moore's successor, Governor Robert W. Scott, appointed him to the North Carolina Supreme Court, the first governor of North Carolina to be so honored. He served on the Court from November 20, 1969 until December 31, 1978. As a judge and justice, he was noted for the breadth of his legal experience, common sense, and compassion.