Deceased October 30, 2015

View alumni profile (log in required)
Read obituary


In Memory

Dave died Oct. 30, 2015, in Raleigh, N.C., where he and his family had made their home for 50 years. After the Kent School, he entered Amherst and was proudly the third generation to attend.

Dave and I (along with Cal Reynolds ’50) escaped from the crowded confines of Morrow to a comparatively luxurious two-room suite in Stearns our sophomore year.

Dave was always upbeat, great fun to live with, to be with—at meals, social occasions, football games, the Phi Psi house. I don’t recall him having a harsh word to say about anyone. There was the car trip to Florida spring of junior year—Dave and I and Bob Freeman ’50 and Spike Benson ’49, as I recall. Eighteen hours on the road—before the interstates—and six hours in a fleabag motel. Then it rained for the seven days we were in the Sunshine State.

When not in the physics lab, Dave devoted his extracurricular energies to the Glee Club and the newly organized rowing program.

Following Amherst, Dave went to the RCA Institute and worked as an electronics engineer. After a period working on government contracts in Alexandria, Va., he moved to Raleigh and became an instrumentation laboratory manager for IBM.

Dave loved boating on Albemarle Sound and being at his family farm in Virginia. He was dedicated to refugee resettlement issues and to Elder Hosteling with his wife, Ruth.

He was a regular at reunions and homecomings. We were fortunate to connect on a few other occasions to recall the special times of the Amherst years.

Dave is survived by Ruth, son Kenneth, daughters Jean and Ellen and two grandsons. He was predeceased by his daughter Constance.

John Esquirol ’50