With great sadness, we announce the passing of Daniel Patterson Dabney. Dan was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on June 25th, 1953, and passed away at his home in Bloomington, Indiana, on October 20th, 2026. He is survived by his daughter, Laura “Cindy” Dabney, his son-in-law Brian McFillen, and his sisters Mary Dabney and Elizabeth Puckett.
Dan was a Renaissance man, dabbling in photography, tournament design, trivia, embroidery, fine press books, games of all sorts, theater, computers, cricket, and legal research.
Dan earned his B.A. from St. John’s College, Santa Fe, followed by his J.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Law. After a brief stint practicing law, he returned to school to earn first his M.L.I.S. degree from UC Berkeley, then a Ph.D. in library science from UCLA. He worked as a law librarian for a time at the University of Texas, Austin before going to work for West Publishing, where he was the principal intellectual force behind KeyCite. KeyCite was and remains an innovation that revolutionized legal citation research. He also contributed to the law librarianship profession in other ways, including writing the 2008 AALL Law Library Journal Article of the Year Award-winning article The Universe of Thinkable Thoughts: Literary Warrant and West’s Key Number System.
He spent much of his career at West’s home office in Eagan, Minnesota, also spending eight years at its TRGR sister company in Switzerland, where he further worked on refining and updating the West Topic and Key Number System, the single greatest organizational structure for U.S. case law. His contributions to both the legal profession and the legal information profession are incalculable. He was committed to the preservation, sharing, and accessibility of information.
In 2013, he retired to Bloomington, Indiana, to be close to his daughter and son-in-law, often joining them in visits to the theater and in playing board games. Dan was also a devoted fan of the Indiana Hoosiers. He was fascinated with photography, taking remarkable photos, often in infrared. He made the pursuit of interesting ice (its shape, clarity, and more) into an art form. He dabbled in tournament design. He was briefly ranked the second-best backgammon player in Switzerland. He threw himself into anything that caught his interest with his whole heart.
He loved the theater, attending many local productions in Bloomington, and even sponsoring an Indiana University Theater performance. He was active in the Bloomington Drama Club (formerly the Faculty Drama Club), taking part in several shows, and serving as Club president in 2024-2025. He was quick to quote a play, a poem, or to sing a line—often from Gilbert & Sullivan or Cole Porter.
Always ready with a joke, there was no one better than Dan to have in your corner. He adopted people and gave them the tools to be themselves, from people in the legal profession, to local businesses, to his daughter’s high school friends. He was unique and brilliant, eccentric and kind. He made the world a better place.
A memorial service for Dan will be held at 11 a.m. on December 5th, 2026, at Trinity Episcopal Church, 111 South Grant Street, Bloomington, Indiana, with a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers or other gifts, please consider donating a book to your favorite library in his honor. Arrangements have been placed in the care of Derek and Abby George with Limestone Chapel of George Funeral Care at 527 15th Street in Bedford.
