Selecting most recent date between two columns

Question

If I have a table that (among other columns) has two DATETIME columns, how would I select the most recent date from those two columns.

Example:

Answer 1

All other correct answers as already posted.

But if you are still really looking for MAX keyword then here is a way :

select ID , MAX(dt) from 
(  select Id , Date1 as dt from table1
   union  
   select ID , Date2 from table2
) d
group by d.Id