1930–2015

Born in 1930 in Nuremberg, Germany, David passed away on Christmas Eve, 2015, after a short and perplexing illness that remained undiagnosed. I first met David when I was a BDS student at the London Hospital Medical College Dental School in 1979. He was an excellent teacher and as a mentor he was first rate. I would spend many lunch times in his little room off Walden Street discussing articles on occlusion and its many facets.

He was one of the few American-trained dentists on staff at that time, having gained his prosthodontist training at Tufts University in Boston. His enthusiasm for excellence would drive me on to take my DDS and to achieve all that I could professionally.

He was very much a family man, with three girls Gabrielle, Jane and Nina (Julia), and ran a highly successful solo practice in Kent, where he was well respected and admired by his peers and liked by his patients. He was a kind and generous man and I've seen him quietly slip a patient some money for their trip to the dental school. As a man of high ideals and standards he was at times exasperated by the politics he faced at the dental school, but I know that he loved teaching those who wanted to learn.

When he finally retired he pursued an ambition to undertake a university course in European social history. Alas he found the loss of his wife, Christine, to cancer difficult and never really got over the loss of his daughter in November 2013. I know that he enjoyed his companionship with Chris and David's friend Pat during his later years as they travelled together, keeping close to his family. Up until the end he remained an erudite and learned gentleman of the 'old school' – quick witted with a dry and sometimes mischievous sense of humor. He spoke several languages and while in the hospital for his many visits would converse with as many of the foreign nurses as he could, whether they spoke French, German, Arabic, etc. I will miss, but never forget, his kindness, wisdom, honesty, professionalism, wit and friendship over the 40 years we kept close.