Like everyone here has mentioned, I have so many stories about Dave. I knew him as a friend, landlord, contractor, employer and “the guy who built my house”. How does everyone have so many stories about him? He really lived I suppose.
I’ll give you one of my favorites.
Dave and I went to Davis cup together in Montreal to see Canada take on South Africa. Dave dressed in full S.A. gear and we got 3rd row tickets to see the full day. Dave was screaming so loud in the first match he was warned by the umpire. As the day progressed it got hot. Dave was wearing jeans and decided they were too much. Keep in mind he is the only person in a large crowd cheering for another country so he is the center of attention between points. He pulls out a large pocket knife and the people around us move back just a bit. He proceeds to cut his jeans into jean shorts… one leg was down past the knee and the other was well above. At this point he decided to go and convince Milos Raonic (who was watching at this point) to come to his tennis club in S.A. and play a charity tournament to fundraise. I told him “there is no way security is going to let you near him”. Sure enough he walks right up to Milos and starts chatting him up. I would love to tell you that Milos agreed but he didn’t. At the end of the day the S.A. coach gave Dave the jersey off his back and told him he could have free tickets to watch Sunday. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay and Dave had lost his voice hours ago anyway. He was one of a kind. I’m really going to miss him.