Daniel J. Todd '85
deceased April 4, 2013 (view alumni profile-log in required)

In Memory

Last April, Dan Todd passed away in his sleep. When people leave us what remain are two types of memories. The first is a general sense of who they were, the immediate wallop you get to the chest when someone says their name. Dan. Oh, Danny Boy. The easy laugh, the sharp wit, the empathetic ear. My brother-in-arms. The second type of memory comes in the form of a series of little vignettes, snapshots of our lives together. And there were episodes worth remembering: Our epic, failed attempt at driving down the Baja peninsula: two kids playing On the Road, one of us a neophyte, the other a truer portrayer. Our trek around Ireland, his place of childhood, downing Guinness while Dan channeled Irish poets long dead. Our year-long attempt to squeeze from New York City its very essence, doing battle with her every night. All great moments defined by the life force that was Dan Todd.

Dan went on, as we all do, searching for a life of meaning, and it seemed, in the end, he had truly found it. Dan was at a good place in his life. He was proud of his 17-year-old son, Ray, who was getting ready to go to college, and he was reunited with the love of his life, Tomi-Ann Roberts (Smith ’85).

 One of Dan’s favorite Irish writers was the playwright Sean O’Casey, who wrote, “All the world’s a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.” Well, Dan liked to ad-lib, and 50 years ago he took the stage and gave an inspired, relentless performance. Well done, my good and faithful friend.

> Thomas Jordan ’85