Dan May (1898–1982) was a Nashville, Tennessee business, educational and civic leader.
An alumnus and long-time member of the board of trustees of Vanderbilt University,[1] May was an active member and trustee of many civic and educational organizations in the Nashville area.
In The Jews in America, Arthur Hertzberg wrote,In Nashville, Tennessee, Dan May, a leading industrialist, was chairman of the school board in 1954, and he took the lead in fostering a plan for integrating the public schools, one grade at a time.
This modest suggestion did not endear him to the local racists, and he had to be guarded by police for a while.May became chairman of the May Hosiery Mills (subsequently part of the Wayne-Gossard Corp.) in Nashville after the death of his father, Jacob May (1861-1946), who founded the company.
In Mortimer May, Foot soldier in Zion, the 1965 biography of May's brother Mortimer, Sam Shankman summarized Dan May's civic involvement: