I lost another good friend yesterday. Like my friend, Tony, I had known dave for a long time. Unlike my friend, Tony, dave was more regular in my day-to-day life because we worked at the same school. In fact, when I was considering taking a job at the community college, dave was who I consulted because he already worked there and I valued his take on things.
dave was a lot of things: an OCD list maker about movies, music and sports, a math genius, a dedicated professor, a loving dad, a good friend, a self-described curmudgeon who had a heart of gold and a gentle way.
To me, he really demonstrated my definition of “techy-feely” as he loved mathematics, music, movies and more.
He shared playlists everyday. They could focus on a single band, a time period, a genre, and his always changing list of “perfect songs”. You could count on him to have thoughts on the world today and I appreciated his dedication to his students, his family and friends and making the world a better and more accepting place.
A fellow math faculty told me that she watched him teach and thought it was the most organic and effective classroom environment she had ever seen. I mourn for his students and how they only got to have him for a few weeks this term. But, I am grateful for the students who were lucky enough to have him as their instructor, mentor and friend.
His OCD could be challenging for him but it also brought out many good things for him. When his health was not great a few years back (well, it has never been that great), he started walking. And set a goal to get well over 10,000 steps a day. He did that for a year. On that year anniversary, his wife organized about a dozen friends to be there at the end of his walk that day. The photo of that celebration is the image with this post. He was so loved by so many.
RIP dave. Enjoy your never-ending playlist of perfect songs.