David G. Savich

David George Savich was born December 7, 1957, to Marion and George Savich in Springfield, Missouri. David’s older sister, Laura Jean, was four years old at the time and George was attending seminary at Central Bible College. While David was still an infant the family moved to Palm City near Imperial Beach in San Diego County and a few years later moved to San Ysidro where George pastored a church for the Assemblies of God. Once the family moved to Bonita, David attended Sunnyside Elementary school and then Bonita Vista Junior High where he joined the marching band and played the trumpet, an instrument at which he would excel throughout high school. In Bonita, David’s grandmother and Marion’s mother, Christine Jacobsen, lived with the family.

David graduated from Bonita Vista High School in 1976 and went on to attend California Polytechnic University where he earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Horticulture in 1982. After a year of working in horticulture in San Diego, in August of 1983 David began as an Assistant Manager at one of his Uncle Sam’s many PDQ convenience stores. David’s tenure at PDQ would span almost two decades. Due to his strong work ethic, David was quickly promoted to various management positions in PDQ stores in Minnesota, the Lake Tahoe area of Nevada, and Colorado. While living in Colorado, David met his best friend, Bill Mach. It was also in Colorado that he visited his first Starbucks coffee shop, an experience that made a big impression on him. David took on a leadership position as President of PDQ from 1996 to 2002, during which time David prided himself on bringing a gourmet coffee experience to PDQ customers. During this time David lived in Middleton, Wisconsin, near Madison, where he enjoyed spending time with Sam and Nancy Jacobsen.

Two of David’s favorite things were a good cup of coffee and spending time in the outdoors. Since he was a small boy, David loved to fish. He sometimes worried his mother when he would leave the house early in the morning to catch crawdads in the local creek with friends from the neighborhood. As an adult, one of David’s favorite pastimes was joining his friend Bill to go fishing. They went on many trips together both in the mountains of Colorado and to more exotic locations in Alaska, Mexico, and Belize. David loved to travel and vacation with friends and family, and over the years he shared his vacation timeshares in Cancun, Hawaii, and various locations in California. David was also an avid snow skier and he loved to spend time on and in the water scuba diving, snorkeling, deep sea fishing, and waterskiing. Over the years, he enjoyed many ski and fishing trips with friends and family. David’s favorite sport to play was volleyball, and he spent several years on a club team.

After his time with PDQ, David worked with Diamond Shamrock Marketing and Refining, Inc. and spent one year with Starbucks Coffee. Over the last ten years, David enjoyed an early retirement of sorts, which allowed him the time to serve on several boards of directors and earn a Masters Degree in Theology with an emphasis in Apologetics at Biola University in 2007. David purchased a home in Rancho Bernardo in San Diego County while maintaining residential investment properties in Missouri. David was very handy and prided himself on doing the maintenance work on his properties himself. While working on his rentals, David would stay on the Garr Ranch, outside of Branson, with Doug and Lee’s family and enjoyed spending time with Dwanette and Willis’s family as well. David always spoke fondly of sharing in this family life and romping around on the ranch with the kids.

David was very generous with his time, and over the last several years managed the affairs of his Aunt Martha Bauer and helped in the publishing of her last book about her time growing up in Wisconsin and working as a missionary in Nigeria. David was also actively working as a member of the board on the Sam and Mary Jacobsen Trust. David divided his time between Wisconsin, when working on the trust, and San Diego, where he was staying with his parents, George and Marion, and for whom his help and companionship was invaluable.

David was a dedicated Christian and was leader of many in-home church-related small groups. David attended the Rock Church in Point Loma through which over the last two years he volunteered to tutor an elementary-aged boy from inner-city San Diego. David was a great cook and was known for making fabulous meals with his sister, Laura, for the family at holiday get togethers, which often involved fresh fish caught on one of his fishing trips. David shared a passion for photography and mountain biking with his nephew, Jeff Dodds. The two of them would often visit scenic places in San Diego to take photos together and enjoyed mountain biking in the area.

On Sunday, January 29, 2012, after a service at the Rock Church and lunch with George and Jeff at their favorite Chinese food restaurant, David asked Jeff to join him on a mountain bike ride on Mount Miguel in Spring Valley, not far from Bonita. They set off on a 12 mile loop. The bike ride took them to the top of a hill that had a great view of San Diego Bay and the Coronado Islands. David called his good friend Bill from the top to tell him about the beautiful weather and view. They snapped a few photos and took off for the ride back to the car. Close to sunset and only about two miles from the end of their ride, David suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. Jeff and emergency personnel worked hard to resuscitate David, but he had already gone to be with the Lord.

David is survived by his mother and father, Marion and George Savich, his sister and brother-in-law, Laura Jean Dodds and Gary Dodds, his nephew Jeff Dodds, and his niece Robin Dodds Lang and her husband, Paul Lang. David will be remembered as a trustworthy businessman, friend, nephew, uncle, brother, son, and man of God and will be greatly missed by his friends and family.