Nathan Dane III was born in Willimantic, Connecticut, and grew up in Brunswick, Maine. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1965, spent two years in the Army and, as a volunteer for Missions for two years, worked organizing migrant farm laborers in the Missouri Delta region.
After attending Episcopal Theological School and working as a social worker in the St. Louis Juvenile Court system, he graduated from St. Louis University School of Law in 1974. Prior to affiliating with Rudman Winchell, he practiced law in Bangor, Maine for 32 years, 25 as a solo practitioner. At Rudman Winchell his primary areas of practice are estate planning, probate, and real estate.
While living in Bangor he served on the Board of Directors of Amicus, an organization serving adults with multiple disabilities, Bangor Symphony, Penobscot Foundation for Developmental Services, and The Housing Foundation. As a resident of Deer Isle, Maine, he is on the Board of Trustees of the Island Heritage Trust, the Advisory Board of the Stonington Opera House Arts and the Vestry of St. Brendan the Navigator (Episcopal) Church. He served for nine years as a member of the Ethics Commission of the Maine Board of Bar Overseers.