Daniel Jerome Wright
Daniel J. Wright, credited with accomplishing the “Michigan Miracle” by saving the state $178 million in 2003, died July 31 in Lansing after a long illness.
He was 63.
Wright led the state’s efforts to upgrade Michigan’s child support payment system by federally mandated deadlines.
As a special assistant to then state Supreme Court Chief Justice Maura Corrigan, he met with officials to solve the previous system’s failure to track child support payments and punish those responsible for missed payments.
When he met the deadlines, Wright saved the state $142 million in federal fines and earned the state a $36 million refund for fines it had already paid as a federal incentive to meet the deadlines.
Federal officials acknowledged at the time that it took a “miracle” for the state to meet the deadlines.
Corrigan, who now serves as director of the Michigan Department of Human Services, said Wright was the reason the “Miracle” occurred.
“He was a tremendous diplomat and a person of his word,” Corrigan said. “He had a lot of convincing to do to bring all of the counties in line. That was the reason the Michigan Miracle happened.”
For that work, the state created the Daniel J. Wright Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.
The award recognizes an outstanding advocate for Michigans children and families.
Wright received his award from Gov. Rick Snyder during a ceremony in Lansing last November.
Corrigan said Wright told her that the award and the ceremony made for the “happiest day of my life.”
Michigan Lawyers Weekly named Wright “Lawyer of the Year” for his work to implement the program.
In his career with the Supreme Court, he has been head of the Friend of the Court Bureau, an administrative division connected to the court, and directed the court’s Child Welfare Services Division.
Carl Gromek, Wright’s former legal partner and friend for 40 years, attended the award ceremony. He said it was easy to understand why the state would want to honor Wright.
“People knew they could believe in him,” Gromek said. “It wasn’t just his breadth of knowledge or charisma, but his honesty and feelings for others that made him so successful.”
In 2008, Wright started Adoption Forums for the Supreme Court to make it easier for children in foster care to find permanent homes.
His efforts helped influence new legislation that gave children more power in the legal decisions that determined their future.
Wright also was part of the Michigan Underground Economy Task Force, a group that sought to find ways to keep parents from hiding assets and income to avoid paying child support.
The Detroit nataive earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Marquette University. He attended Marquette University Law School before transferring and graduating from the University of Detroit School of Law in 1973.
Before he joined the Supreme Court staff in 1989, Wright was a partner in the Detroit law firm of Gromek, Bendure and Thomas and also spent six years with the State Appellate Defender Offices in Detroit and Ann Arbor.
He is survived by his wife, Lynne; a daughter, Margaret; a son, Eamonn; a brother and three sisters.
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