South Hadley, MA – Donald David died peacefully on April 2, 2026 with his daughter Michelle by his side. He was preceded by his wife after 73 years of marriage.
He was born on June 25, 1930 in St. Louis Missouri to Alfred and Marie David. He attended St. George Elementary School and South Side Catholic High, later St. Mary’s High School and participated in the Speech Club and library activities. He was a member of the explorer scouts and enjoyed scouting tremendously, becoming a member of the Order of the Arrow and later, conducting the ceremony of introduction for new members. At graduation from high school, he received a four-year Honor Scholarship to St. Mary’s University of San Antonio Texas.
Graduating from St. Mary’s University in 1952 he received a degree in chemistry and he was commissioned a 2nd Lt. in the Field Artillery. The following week Donald married Honore’ Joan Salmi, the daughter of Lucille and Gust Salmi in Charcas, San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Lt. David was posted to Ft. Sill Oklahoma where he completed Battery Officers’ Training. Shortly thereafter he was sent to Korea where he served as forward observer and battery executive officer in combat. After the cessation of hostilities, he was an instructor at an NCO Academy established near the demilitarized zone.
Donald worked for a number of companies, beginning as an analytical chemist, gaining experience in the analysis of an enormous variety of substances at a testing laboratory in Houston, Texas where he became Chief Chemist. Honore’ and Donald moved to New Martinsville, West Virginia in 1959 where a new chemical and research facility was located (Mobay Chemical Co.). As a research analytical chemist and Group Leader where he worked on the development of a variety of new materials and was fortunate to participate in the early phases of development of polycarbonate and the polyurethanes. In 1961 he received the Mobay Research Award for outstanding contributions. In 1963 they adopted their daughter, Michelle.
The three moved to Austin Texas where he did advanced studies in chemistry and polymer science at the University of Texas while working in instrument development in gas chromatography and thermal analysis and published a number of scientific papers in these fields. His first monographs were “The Analytical Chemistry of the Polyurethanes” and “Gas Chromatic Detectors”.
Donald and Honore’ spent a number of years in Dayton, Ohio where he worked at Monsanto Research Corporation, developing and designing analytical instrumentation. While at the MRC-Dayton Laboratory he received an award from the Engineering Society of Dayton as an outstanding scientist in the Dayton community. One of his research specialties was the surface chemistry of high temperature metals used for containing radioactive materials for powering satellites. He received a M.S. in Materials Engineering and an M.S. in Management Science and Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from the University of Dayton.
In 1981 Monsanto the family to the Pioneer Valley where in was appointed a Corporate Senior Research Fellow while he was concurrently Research Manager of the Exploratory Research group in Saflex Technology, the laminated safety product used to protect the windshield in automobiles. Dr. David has 22 patents and has published an estimated 80 peer-reviewed publications, including books and papers. He was a member of a number of scientific societies, including the American Chemical Society of which he became an emeritus member after some 30 years, a national officer in the North American Thermal Analysis Society, a member of the Materials Research Society, and a former member of the New York Academy of Sciences. He was listed in Who’s Who and American Men of Science. He felt quite fortunate to have worked in three different disciplines, viz., chemistry, analytical instrumentation design/development, and materials science.
He worked with academic institutions throughout the world in looking for new technologies of interest to Monsanto. He was appointed an Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota where he worked with, and supervised, doctoral students. He also had an appointment as CUMIRP Research Professor, Center for UMass Industry Research on Polymers in the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, where he supervised Post Doctoral students.
After retirement from Monsanto he continued to author scientific articles and consulted domestically and internationally and co-authored a reference volume with a colleague, “Relating Materials Properties to Structure”.
Don and his wife traveled extensively and visited over 50 countries. He was always interested in photography and after retirement actively pursued this avocation participating in many photography exhibits throughout the Northeast. He won numerous awards for his work and also served as President of the Pioneer Valley Photographic Society. Recording a beautiful moment in time and the beauty of nature always served to thrill him. He loved to share what he saw with others. He has authored eight photo books.
Honore’ joined him on many photo trips and his daughter Michelle, who resides in the Rhode Island area, joined him at various times to be together and share experiences on many trips geared to photography in the Northeast. Don treasured these joint experiences. With Honore’, he visited many museums throughout the world. He felt fortunate to have encountered and known so many talented people throughout his life.
He loved and cherished his wife and daughter and felt that his number one concern throughout his life was the welfare of his family and if he did not succeed there, nothing else mattered.
A Celebration of his life will be planned in the near future. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Dr. David’s name to the University of Dayton in Ohio. https://udayton.edu/give/ or call 888-253-2383.
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