“I have had good friends for 56 years. They happen to be my doctor, lawyer, and accountant, but Dave (43 years) was my best friend simply because we spent so much time together in those 43 years. We did this because we had so much in common but enough differences to make it interesting but never divisive. I’ll talk about them a little later.
Those years were really broken into two parts. The first 35 were the work years. During that time Dave and I worked in separate places and the same place where he was a consultant. During those years our lunch discussions revolved around work mostly, with some sports and family thrown in.
Then, for the past eight years I have been retired so that shifted us into Retirement mode. Now politics became our main topic followed by the Eagles and investing in retirement. This was one of our areas of difference. Dave was a shrewd and successful investor who actively managed his investment. I was a devotee of St. John Bogle with Index Funds and set it and forget investment. Many a two-hour lunch involved strenuous discussions here. Another area of friendly differences of opinion involved cars. He was a devotee of performance automobiles and drove a BMW. I drove the cheapest thing that met my needs so I had hours of fun kidding him about regular $2,000 service appointments. Further, knowing how much he looked down on Hyundai I was thrilled when Hyundai made a BMW competitor and I continuously tried to get him to take a test drive.
Another area of difference was our families. Dave’s father was a towering figure, but hardly knew my Dad who died when I was 10 so I always appreciated Dave’s stories about growing up. On the other hand our mothers couldn’t be different but Dave knew my mother well and she was a great source of amusement to both of us as she was the typical Jewish mother that Dave didn’t experience.
A last of difference that made for sometimes intense discussion was religion. Dave was not a practicing of religion but he had belief God in some way. I did not share this view so much discussion took place.
Those were our interesting difference but where were we the same? Start with politics. Dave and I were traditional Democrats but still fiscally conservative and always willing to criticize both parties as needed. Dave also believed in fairness and charity as did I. We believed that some people needed help to climb out of poverty and was willing to provide that help. We often tried to think up out of the box ways to do this.
We both also loved technology. Despite leaving the industry we still kept a close watch on the businesses and the technology involved.
Over the last few years we shared something in a much bigger way than before – The American Helicopter Museum. Dave was spending more and more time with the board to help the museum move forward. As a former executive I enjoyed helping Dave develop his ideas on this so we spent an increasing amount of our lunches discussing this. To me it also demonstrated Dave’s commitment to helping others.
We also talked more about our children and how they were getting along in life both their successes and their challenges. I know Dave was very proud of Jason and Erin as they made their way.
So let me summarize my friend Dave. He was kind, generous smart and hardworking. Along with me he was a long suffering Eagles fan. I knew him to try to be the best father to his children that he could be and a loving Husband to Donna.
Dave has left a great void in my life that will never be filled again.”

By Al Pomerantz