Donald W. Banner was a former United States Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks

Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property

The Under Secretary for Intellectual Property, within the United States Department of Commerce, is the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office...

.

Donald Banner was born in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 in 1924, he served as a P-47 pilot during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. He was shot down over Italy, and held in a German POW camp until April 29, 1945.

After the war Donald attended Purdue University

Purdue University

Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...

, graduating with a BSEE in 1948. He earned his Juris Doctor in 1952, from the University of Detroit. He later went on to earn his Master of Patent Law in 1958, and his Doctor of Laws in 1979 from The John Marshall Law School.

Donald Banner was appointed to be U.S. Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks by both Presidents Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

 and Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

, the only person to be so appointed by presidents of both political parties. He served in that office only during the Carter Administration from 1978 to 1979.

After his time as Commissioner of Patents he entered private practice with Banner & Witcoff.

He died on January 29, 2006.