Yesterday, June 27th was a bittersweet day: Dave Ellsworth’s memorial service. As befitting Dave’s life it seemed that most of the hundreds of attendees had flown into San Francisco to honor Dave. Not make light of a terrible event, but Dave’s closet has to be packed full of frequent traveler miles. Reports of Puerto Vallarta for lunch, Hawaii for breakfast, DC for dinner and then the red eye back.

Guests came from Anchorage, Honolulu, Washington DC, and lots from LA, where Dave used to live, Phoenix and all over the USA. I’m glad I didn’t have meetings this morning with all who took red eyes to get back on schedule. Delta, American and United reported the Dave fan club took most of their first class seats!

I guess about a quarter of those there were from our business. Befitting a multi-dimensional guy, as was Dave, he had friends from many cross sections of life. His son and daughter, and their spouses, his life partner and other family members got through the service focusing on what Dave/Dad had given them as much as how they were going to miss him. But, the loss was still there. The great portrait size photo of Dave in font of Gleneagles and the last Power Point slide of Dave sitting in a chair, on the beach, looking right at the camera with that ‘I love life’ grin on his face.

The common theme of the afternoon: Dave thought big, lived big, covered big geography in his business and was singular in his dedication to his family. For certain he had a big heart.