David Ward was born in New London, Ohio, to Rodney E. and Alice Ruth (Ali) Ward on Feb. 16, 1951. He grew up in New London and spent summers at the family cottage on Lake Erie, boating and sailing.
He attended New London High School, Shattuck Military Academy, Faribault, Minnesota (now Shattuck-St Mary’s School), and graduated from Aspen High School, Aspen Colorado in 1969. He attended Ft. Lewis College, Durango, Colorado.
As a child he loved the TV program “Sea Hunt.” When the family traveled to Florida, he learned to scuba dive. During his life he dove in Lake Erie, the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, the California coast, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and in Tahiti, among other places.
David lived in Colorado, California, and in Carefree and Scottsdale, Arizona. There he was his mother’s caretaker in her last months. He settled in Florida in the late 1980s, first in Riviera Beach and then Marathon.
He was a sailor. Sailors and boating people were his community in Marathon. He was known as “Fuzzy” by his friends because of his curly hair and beard. He lived the way he wanted, on his sailboat reading three daily newspapers and many books, occasionally working various jobs.
He lost his boat and all his possessions in Hurricane Irma in September 2017, escaping with friends from the Keys to the Florida mainland. With FEMA providing some help, he was able to buy an old used sailboat that became his new home.
In early October 2020, he was diagnosed with throat cancer. There were some options for radiation and chemotherapy, but he made his intentions very clear — no treatment. He wanted to die on his boat. His final days were spent on his boat reading newspapers and books, where he died peacefully on Jan. 26, 2021.
He was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Tom and Donna Ward, Aspen, Colorado, and a nephew, Derek Ward, wife Le, and great-nephew, Kai, San Francisco, California.
He was a unique person, bright and insightful, a good friend to his friends, and living his life as he wanted. A memorial service will be held in Marathon in the spring and his ashes will be scattered.
