Deceased April 15, 2017
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In Memory
Dave was the kind of guy you’d actually like your kid sister to go out with. And to marry. Sweet, kind, gentle, funny. Considerate, attentive and fair. Truly humble. Much too warm to play cool. A reliably great and generous conversationalist. A perfect companion for a walk in the park. The guy you’d be happy to let choose the next 10 tunes on the turntable.
During our four years at Amherst, I was always delighted to have time with David. I was privileged to have that for nearly 40 more years as brothers-in-law. I’ll always see his big smile, feel his high five and hear his “Yo, bro!” that greeted me hundreds and hundreds of times. Still can’t believe there won’t be hundreds more.
David was a playwright best known for his Pulitzer Prize finalist play, Album, and for New York, a play about the aftermath of 9/11, first performed at an event to benefit volunteer psychiatrists. Since its publication by Samuel French, it has been performed around the country and the world. David was also an adjunct professor of English at CUNY/LaGuardia Community College. He died on April 15 at the age of 67. The cause was a hemorrhagic stroke.
He is survived by his wife, Ellen Sandhaus (Smith ’74); a brother, Peter; a sister, Ethel; a niece, Meredith Reese; a nephew, Nicholas; and a beloved grandniece, Scout Marie Reese.
Dick Sandhaus ’71