Dan grew up on the Lower East Side of New York City. He received his BA in Philosophy from Guilford college in 1967 and an MA in Anthropology from Florida State in 1973. He was certified to teach scuba in 1972 (NAUI), cave diving in 1973 (NACD) and began supervising underwater archaeological projects for the National Park Service. Dan was founding chief of the NPS Submerged Cultural Resources Unit, renamed Submerged Resources Center. He was an NPS archaeologist until 2009 and the U.S. delegate to the International Committee on Underwater Cultural Heritage ICOMOS/UNESCO 1991-2004. The books Submerged, Underwater Wonders of the National Parks and Shipwrecks of Isle Royale drew from his NPS experiences. He also co-authored three novels with actor Gene Hackman. Dan has two sons with his wife Barbara from Jacksonville, Illinois. Dan and Barb live in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
