Sherri, 
I was so sorry to hear of David's passing.  As you know our parents were friends and I knew David fairly well when we were growing up.  Hope all is well with you and your family.
Alan Abramovitz

I saw David on numerous occasions at Seattle University as he was going to or from his classes.
Even though I never got to know him beyond saying hello, he impressed me as a person with a genuineness and an intelligence that made me feel good about his being a colleague and a teacher. Now I wish I had taken the time to talk to him. My deepest condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.

I'd often run into David in Seattle's University District, where I live. He had grown up in University City, Missouri, where I'd spent eight years of my boyhood. He went to high school with my brother Carl. A great loss: a scholar and philosopher of integrity; a genuinely considerate person and teacher; and a lively conversationalist. And he'd so looked forward to his retirement to read and study. RIP.

David was an incisive scholar and an utterly unique individual of extraordinary integrity—Socrates at the agora, a teacher, a learner. I had many conversations with him over the years and considered a personal tutor on literature and philosophy. He loved his work at Seattle University and took his teaching more seriously than anyone I've known in my 30 years as a professor. I would leave our chats always to think more carefully about—and reconsider—what I planned to teach that week. Sometimes David dropped by my office at UW but mostly we just bumped into each other in the University District, sometimes at the Allegro or Magus, and a session would ensue. He might ask, “Are you re-reading anything?” I would stammer something, and then he would share what he had recently re-read, often focusing on a single sentence, sometimes a single idea in the opening sentence of a text—maybe something by Vonnegut or Plato. I read James' The Beast in the Jungle because of him. And re-read Catcher in the Rye. Of course, I began paying attention to opening sentences. His death is a shock, and I will miss him dearly. For his spirit, I will re-read something.

David was a sensitive, kind, and intelligent person. I knew him through Karl and Inge Dardick and the beautiful old house they shared. I last saw David when some of us scattered Karl's ashes. I will miss running into him on the Ave. Condolences to his family.

David and I previously worked together at Seattle U.  The last time I saw him, a year ago, we were commiserating about the mountains of end-of-quarter grading, but he concluded by saying, with great enthusiasm, how lucky he felt to have the kind of job that made it possible to be immersed in philosophy every day.  I will remember his friendliness, enthusiasm, and devotion to his chosen profession.  Sincerest condolences to his family.

We knew David as neighbors in Seattle's U District and as a fellow teacher.  David always seemed to us the embodiment of the urban monk, the solitary contemplative in a world of action, the man whom Thomas Merton and Albert Camus praised.  He was totally dedicated to his teaching and to his students, perhaps more of a Jesuit than some of the Jesuits at Seattle U. We will miss his total integrity.

I'm sorry to hear of David's death. I only knew him in high school, but remember him with respect, fondness and admiration.


David's prodigious memory and wry insight made his storytelling a joy to experience; Dennis & myself had been bugging him for years to write down his stories, his amusing and only slightly cynical tales of a unique life.  David was one of the most passionate musicians I've ever known, and a man engaged heart and mind in the world. Our friendship over the decades aged like a good bottle of wine, deepening in character and nuance; in my memories, he is always smiling, overflowing with sparkling intellect, longstriding, skinnylegged...

I'm proud that I was a friend of this kind, decent, honest man.

David was my lifelong friend, we knew each other for almost fifty years, we grew up together in University City playing music together in bands and in clubs around the St. Louis area. David was dedicated to his academic pursuits and had the keenest intellect of anyone I have ever met. He was a great humorist and had an uncanny ability to remember events and people long past. David was true to his philosophy and lived his life according to his principles, which were uncompromising. He was most concerned with his students carrying on with an intellectually driven and self-aware life. I shall miss him greatly.  
Dennis James Rogers

My condolences to David's family and friends. I knew David from University City High Shcool. He was a very fine person.

Wayne Rosenthal

David was a dedicated teacher who opened the eyes of many students. Condolences to his family.

David was an inspiring colleague to me and others in the Seattle University Philosophy Department.  My condolences to David's family.

OBITUARY

David Richard Heller

Born FEBRUARY 1, 1952

Berger Memorial Chapel

Show your support

Add a Memory

Share Obituary

Get Updates

Condolences Wednesday after 2 pm, Private Funeral Service and Interment