David was born December 3, 1938, in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg, Russia), then part of the Soviet Union. David’s early years were profoundly marked by World War II, which began less than a year after he was born. His mother, Dina, perished of starvation during the Siege of Leningrad when David was three years old. He was sent to an orphanage outside of the city, until his father, Ilya, returned from the Red Army to take him home. As an adult he still vividly remembered the intense starvation he suffered as child during the war, and felt it was a miracle he was able to survive to adulthood.

David attended the Leningrad Mining Institute and became a mining engineer, then subsequently attended Leningrad State University and obtained a degree in English. He taught himself computer programming by studying textbooks at night. However, he refused to be limited by the deep-seated antisemitism of the Soviet Union that he felt restricted his opportunities to succeed. He emigrated to the United States in 1973 as one of the earliest waves of the refugee program for Soviet Jews. He landed in Los Angeles, California, where he lived for several years before moving to Long Beach and then to Seal Beach, California where he lived for the rest of his life. David met his wife, Sumiko, in an English as a Second Language class in Los Angeles in 1973. They were married for 52 years.

David was a brilliant man. He was a gifted mathematician and software engineer, but also loved art, languages, the classics and history. He at one point knew Russian, German, English, French and Latin. Some of his favorite books were the works of Plato and the Confessions of St. Augustine and, after emigrating to America, he developed a passion for learning about the history of the founding of America and the Civil War. He deeply loved nature and traveling. He and Sumiko would camp and hike in Kings Canyon National Park each summer, a tradition they passed on to their daughter and grandchildren. He loved visiting Europe and the East Coast, especially in the winter months so he could again feel the snow falling. His life truly embodied the American dream. He often reminded his daughter, Irina, how he came to this country with one hundred dollars and nothing else. Yet, through courage, hard work and intelligence, he created a generational legacy for his family. He instilled in his daughter a profound gratitude for the opportunities and freedom America provided. As a child, he would often tell her stories of the first time he went to an American grocery store and marveled at the abundance of food, in comparison to the sparse stock and scarcity in the Soviet Union (and how much he discovered he loved peanut butter). As a rite of passage into adulthood, on her 18 th birthday, he gave her a copy of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. He was able to see his daughter graduate from college and law school, attend her wedding to his son-in-law, Simon Khagi, and meet his two granddaughters, Isobel and Elena. Unfortunately, adversity affected not only the dawn but the dusk of his life. David was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1996. He persevered through his daily struggle with the disease for thirty years. His wife, Sumiko, was his constant companion and caretaker, and over the last three decades of his life, she sacrificed so much of her own life to ensure he was taken care of in the best way possible. Everyone who knew David and Sumiko were in awe of the absolute devotion she had to him and attributed to her the only way he was able to live as long as he did. He passed with Sumiko by his side on August 26, 2026. We will always remember his brilliance, his determination, his sense of humor and his love for his wife and daughter. He will be deeply missed.