Dave’s Story

I grew up in a pastor’s family in southern NJ with my 3 brothers. Part of my growing up took place along the Jersey shore. I loved living 6 blocks from the ocean. The memories of spending my summers on the beach and boardwalk are wonderful. The town I grew up in had a busy and very robust seafood industry. I spent countless hours watching the fishing boats coming into dock and unloading the various seafood. I remember on more than 1 occasion my curiosity got the better of me. Sometimes I would try and sneak into the boats to get a closer look only to be chased away by a playful fisherman pretending he was a pirate and that he would make me walk the plank if I didn’t “scram”.

Professional Life

Professionally, I have had several challenging and life altering experiences. One of these experiences was to serve on an early response team that was sent to New York City immediately (the day after) after the horrific events of 911. The memories of these events are still vivid in my recollections. Another challenging and exciting experience was when I was chosen to be part of a 7 member team for a new project for state of NJ. Our team’s project was to create/develop a statewide traumatic loss coalition with chapters in each of the 21 counties. These chapters were to respond to any traumatic event within 2 hours of the event occurring. Theses chapters consisted of professionals from law enforcement, hospitals, mental health counselors, social workers, clergy, educators, doctors, nurses and others. Additionally, we were tasked with creating these early response teams in all of the 600 school districts. We provided training and coordinating these teams. The trauma teams were available for any and all traumatic emergencies. Early on  our teams responded to a small engine plane crashing in a school yard killing 2 children, 2 public school shootings and numerous other traumatic events. 

My Family

I’ve been married 30+ years to a beautiful young lady I met in college. She is from the great state of Georgia. We have  3 adult children who are scattered , living in Chicagoland, Philadelphia, and South Korea. I enjoy many activities, some of them being landscaping, water sports, traveling, hiking, campfires, dining out with friends and family, and sports. My teams are the Atlanta Braves, Philly 76ers, and UK boys basketball team.