G. D. “Gerry” Mason Biography

April 19, 2022

Gerry Mason, 55, owns a boutique law firm and practices law throughout Michigan, often in joint ventures with significant law firms. He is also active in the areas of private equity investment, small business, venture capital, renewable energy, and technology.  Mr. Mason began to work at age eight and has worked ever since - founding several businesses.  He is currently an Advisory Board member for American Battery Technology Company, and Voise Inc., a cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and data automation company. 

Mr. Mason earned his B.A. from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1991, and graduated from Michigan State University {Detroit} College of Law in 1998 as Class President. While at U of M, Mr. Mason worked as an Assistant to Prof. Raymond Tanter, studied China under Prof. Kenneth Lieberthal, and spent a semester in the former Soviet Union. At law school, he was elected to the Student Bar Association where he served as its Vice President and later President. Mr. Mason was very active in the American Bar Association/Law Student Division. The ABA Law Student Division awarded Mr. Mason its  Bronze Key in 1997, and its Silver Key in 1998. 

Mr. Mason is Past President (2013-14) of the St. Clair, Michigan, Rotary Club; currently serves on The Salvation Army Port Huron Citadel Advisory Board as Vice Chairman; and also serves on the Mercedes Benz Club of America national board for membership. In 2021, Mr. Mason was asked to serve on the Board of Directors for the St. Clair Police Foundation to be established for better police- community relations; he currently serves as its Vice Chairman.

Mr. Mason has also served on The State Bar of Michigan Representative Assembly where he represented the 31^st Judicial Circuit. In 2020, The Representative Assembly (RA) elected Mr. Mason to serve as its Clerk which means that he will progressively serve as its Vice Chair and then Chair in September 2022.  As part of RA duties, Mr. Mason also serves on the State Bar of Michigan Board of Commissioners where he sits on its Finance Committee.  He also served on the State Bar of Michigan Character and Fitness, and Special Issues Committees (recently for COVID 19 considerations, and Diversity).  The State Bar of Michigan recently recognized Mr. Mason’s charity work as part of its Lawyer Helps initiative. During COVID 19, Mr. Mason volunteered as a pro bono lawyer for the State Bar of Michigan’s Front-Line Responder Legal Help Line. The Federal Public Defenders Office recently named Mr. Mason to its Federal Public Defenders CJA Panel Screening Committee.

Mr. Mason has been married to Patty Chiang Mason for over twenty years; they have three children. Born legally blind, Mr. Mason underwent a series of six successful eye surgeries at ages 13, 25 and 55 collectively with his most recent surgery on April 8, 2022. Mr. Mason was the first person with low vision to be admitted to his law school. In the 1970s, he lived in an orphanage (St. Francis Home for Boys, Detroit) while his parents were divorced; they later re-married.  The Mason family attends Colonial Woods Missionary Church in Port Huron, Michigan.

Prior to entering private practice in 1998, Mr. Mason worked as a City of Detroit Recorder’s Court Law Clerk, as a Macomb County Law Clerk for the Hon. Pat M. Donofrio, and served as a Special Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Crawford, Roscommon, and Macomb Counties. In 2003, the Sixth Circuit Federal Court for the  Eastern District of Michigan and the Sixth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals admitted Mr. Mason to practice. The United States Supreme Court, Washington DC, admitted Mr. Mason to practice before it in 2006.   In 2006, Mr. Mason served on the Committee on Minority Presence (COMP) as part of a bi partisan effort to recruit and train minority Workers Compensation Judges. 

Mr. Mason served on the Michigan Republican State Committee for over ten years, where he chaired its Communications Committee, served as Financial Counsel, and then served as Vice Chairman for Coalitions from 2005-2009. He has worked on election campaigns since the 1980s including Engler for Governor, and Bush-Quayle ‘88 and ‘92[1]. In 2004, Mr. Mason received the high honor of being named Bush-Cheney ’04 SE Michigan Grassroots Coordinator, after having served as an attorney for Lawyers for Bush in 2000. In 2008, Mr. Mason served as Michigan Grassroots Chairman for Mitt Romney for President and then Michigan Grassroots Co-Chair for McCain-Palin. Mr. Mason also worked closely with US Rep. Candice S. Miller when she represented Michigan’s 10^th Congressional District. Former Attorney General and GOP candidate for Governor, Mike Cox selected Mr. Mason to serve as his state-wide Cox for Governor Grassroots Chairman in 2010. Mr. Mason served as a bundler for Mitt Romney for President 2012.   In 2020, Congresswoman Lisa McClain sought Mr. Mason’s help in her first bid for congress. He continues to enjoy a close relationship with Lisa and her staff. 

Mr. Mason’s hobbies include: The University of Michigan Wolverines Football, college football of any kind, politics, foreign affairs [1], blues music, exercise, and community service. Mr. Mason’s favorite quote is from Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., “Do not tell a man what to do. Tell him what you need and he will surprise you with his ingenuity.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Some other campaign efforts include: Donofrio for Macomb County Circuit Judge, Druzinski for Macomb County Circuit Judge, Chrzanowski for Macomb County Prosecutor. Kaplan for Oakland County Circuit Judge, Kaplan for West Bloomfield Township Trustee, Kelly for District Judge, Donnellon for St. Clair County Sheriff, Calley for Lt. Governor, and Ronna Romney McDaniel for Michigan Republican Party Chair. 

[2] In 1985 Mason lived in West Germany as part of the Lions Club Youth Exchange, and then in 1990, lived in the former Soviet Union as part of The University of Michigan Slavic Language Program. Mr. Mason has also made numerous trips to Asia with his wife who is from Taipei, Taiwan.