Edward John Dinkel III, 83, died peacefully in his home on Honeysuckle Hill in Lexington, Virginia on Sunday, February 6, 2022.

Appropriately, it was the 5th Sunday of Epiphany, a day that remembers the moment when Jesus's disciples leave their fishing boats behind to follow him. "From now on, you will fish for people," Jesus tells them. With his mischievous charm, steadfast humility and lie-long commitment to the golden rule, John was a master fisher of people. Attentive and courteous to all who crossed his path, he didn't lead so much as inspire.

The oldest of five children born to Edward John Dinkel Jr. and Gertrude Dinkel of Montclair, New Jersey, John attended Montclair High School and Vermont Academy, before joining the class of 1961 at Washington and LeeUniversity, where he excelled on the athletic field. Of average height, John was nonetheless a tenacious bulldog of a defenseman, earning the Clovis Moomaw Football Award for leadership and sportsmanship as a freshman.

Unfortunately, lifelong back problems forced an early retirement from football (as well as disqualifying him for the Marine Corps which he volunteered and trained for the summer of 1960), but he quickly made a name for himself as a goalie on the lacrosse field, accomplishing the notable feet of saving a goal and making an offensive one in one maneuver.

The summer after his sophomore year, he traveled to Australia as a member of a squad of fellow Generals and Virginia Cavaliers to compete against the All-Australians. Commended for his "heavy stickwork" during the 1961 season, he was an All-American Honorable Mention, co-captain of his team and the only W&L representative on the All-Star All-South team.

Though a formidable competitor on the field, John is remembered as always a consummate gentleman off of it. Fun-loving and extremely social, he was elected to the esteemed Sigma Society as both a junior and a senior. He was also one of 13 juniors chosen by the outgoing seniors to be part of the "13 Club," which was primarily responsible for providing "unexpected" half-time displays at Homecoming.

As a senior, John was elected treasurer of both the Varsity Club and his fraternity, Beta Theta Pi. (Not least, he was a member of the Mongolian Minks, whose self-described "activities … are so enigmatic as to border on the inscrutable.") That year, he also managed to court and marry Leta Austin, a beautiful student at Hollins College.

Upon marriage and graduation, John continued his life at W&L but began to put away childish things and embarked on the study of law. His first daughter, Elizabeth, was born in the spring of 1962. By his third year, he had become president of the W&L Law Association and was awarded the nationally renowned Omnicron Delta Kappa Award, all the while selling sandwiches in the dorms to support his new family.

After John's graduation, the Dinkels moved to New York City where he started work in the legal department at Commercial Solvents Corp, moonlighting on the weekends at the family firm started by his father, Dinkel & Dinkel, on Shelter Island, N.Y., where he had summered growing up.

In 1965, his second daughter, Sallie, was born. In 1966, he was recruited by noted labor attorney Granville Alley to join his practice in Tampa, Florida. By 1970, his name was on the door of Alley, Rock & Dinkel, one of the few law firms in the country that specialized in labor law.

Over the next 38 years, John became a pillar of the Tampa community: a long-time partner in the prestigious law firm McFarlane, Ferguson, a member of the vestry at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, commodore of the Tampa Yacht Club. He divorced and remarried, in 1978, to Nancy Richbourg and became the stepfather to Anne and Jeff Dewey.

Along the way, he kept fishing for people: mentoring young lawyers and politicians, volunteering and fund-raising for the Redlands Migrant Association and salvaging the futures of hundreds of young people through his instrumental involvement with the Associated Marine Institutes, an alternative program to institutional juvenile detention that has helped over 150,000 young offenders break the cycle of recidivism and "discover their potential." John served as chair of Human Resources as AMI grew from a small Florida non-profit to a nationwide network of programs, ensuring that the organization's staff and leadership reflected the ethnic background of the youth it served.

In 2008, John retired from his laudable law career, and he and Nancy moved back to Lexington. John's plans to get more involved with his alma mater were disrupted when Nancy's health declined. Nevertheless, they both became faithful members of Grace Church, and, while a tireless caregiver to his wife, John was able to rekindle old friendships and make many new ones in his time here. Sadly, his beloved Nancy passed away in 2021.

John is survived by his brother, Peter Dinkel; his sisters, Betsy Barber and Deborah Endemann; his daughters, Elizabeth Meyerson and Sallie Giordano; his stepson, Jeff Dewey; his stepdaughter, Anne Goodnow; and his long-time friend and caregiver, Shirley Ogden. He will also be sorely missed by many other kind and caring women who stepped in, laughed at his jokes and essentially spoiled him the way he deserved to be spoiled, filling his last months with the kind of joyous empathy he had always shown to others.

A memorial service will be held at Grace Episcopal Church on March 1, 2022 at 4 p.m. A reception will follow at John's home at 421 Honeysuckle Hill in Lexington. All who knew him are welcome.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Rockbridge Area Hospice.