Ike Shupe

Dwight “Ike” Shupe (1946-2020)

Our beloved founding partner Dwight “Ike” Shupe passed away December 30, 2020 in his Fort Worth home. Ike was born in Bristol, Tennessee as a proud son of a World War II Air Force Pilot and grew up in Tennessee, Italy and Indiana. Ike earned his bachelor's degree in Education from Ball State Teachers College in Muncie Indiana, his master’s degree in Nuclear Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass., and juris doctor degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Prior to practicing law, Ike was a high school science teacher and United States Air Force nuclear research officer. He served in the military for 10 years achieving the rank of Captain. He was our resident rocket scientist!

Ike began his legal career in the Tax Section of the Dallas office of Hughes &Luce; but, he soon moved to the Banking and Real Estate Section where he acquired his interest in land use law. Ike served as the head of the firm’s Real Estate Section and Land Use Group from 2003 through 2007.
In 2010, Ike left Hughes & Luce to start Shupe Ventura, PLLC as a founding partner.

Ike was regularly honored as a Texas Super Lawyer and was recognized throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth Area as a superior land use law attorney. Over his impressive career, Ike worked on many of the projects that have shaped North Texas, including the Fort Worth Alliance Airport, the Alliance Corridor, Circle T Ranch, the development of a 2,500-acre corporate campus and mixed-use project in Plano, Texas, the development of a major north-Texas highway project now called the “President George Bush Turnpike”, the American Airlines Center, and the Nebraska Furniture Mart/Grandscape project in The Colony. Ike was known for his ability to develop creative solutions for complex projects and to facilitate strong partnerships between the public and private sectors. We, like many others, will miss his brilliant mind, his Ike-O-Grams, his mentorship, his quick wit and the twinkle in his eye.