Remembering Dave Blumenthal

By Jenni and Ralph Blumenthal

At its meeting on February 23, 2011, the Holmdel Board of Education accepted the donation of a Sugar Maple tree from the Holmdel Shade Tree Committee.  The tree is to be planted sometime this spring in front of the High School in memory of our son, Dave Blumenthal who was tragically killed in a mountain bike race accident near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, last June.  We expressed our thanks to the Board and the Committee.

Dave attended Holmdel Schools from first grade through graduation from Holmdel High School, in 1990.  He was an excellent student and participated in cross country, track and band.  He was a member of the fifth grade team that was the World Champion in the Olympics of the Mind competition, now known as "Odyssey of the Mind."  Dave was the first male winner of the Bob Roggy Memorial Award for sports and scholarship.  He was active in Scouting and became an Eagle Scout.  He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a major in Visual and Environmental Studies (Design) and was President of the Harvard Outing Club.

Subsequently, he earned a Masters Degree in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute.  He was self-employed and worked as a free lance designer and artist.  A few of his projects included designing and building rock climbing gyms, furniture, outdoor equipment, museum exhibits especially for the ECHO Museum in Burlington VT, and graphics.

For many years he lived in Montpelier, Vermont, with his wife, Lexi Shear, and now 4-year old daughter, Linnaea Shear.  They are avid athletes and hike, run, ski, canoe and bike.  In 2004, Dave and Lexi spent five months hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada.  They have paddled down the Yukon River in British Columbia and Alaska and regularly participated in and completed the 100-mile Canadian Ski Marathon at the Coureur des Bois Gold level.  When Linnaea was one, they did a two-week hut-to-hut trek in Austria.

Dave was very active with the Green Mountain Club which oversees and maintains the Long Trail and the Appalachian Trail in Vermont.  He was a member of their Board of Directors and active with the publications committee and the education program.  He designed and made posters and graphics for the club.  Dave and Lexi founded the Young Adventures Club (YAC) to get parents and kids 0-6 years old outdoors, to hike, play, learn and make friends.  The Club presented Dave with the President’s Service Award in early 2010.  Dave touched many people and as a result of many generous memorial donations, the Club has created the Dave Blumenthal Long Trail Education Endowment to support the education program in perpetuity.

The accident occurred while Dave was participating in the Tour Divide, a 2,700-mile one-stage unsupported mountain bike race from Banff, Canada, to Antelope Wells, New Mexico, at the Mexican border following the Continental Divide on mostly gravel roads and single track.  He was thoroughly enjoying the beautiful west and riding approximately 150 miles per day when he accidently hit a pickup truck and was killed.

Pete, Dave's brother, also attended the Holmdel Schools and now lives in Wellesley, MA, with his fiancee, Joo Cho.  Pete and Dave were very close and often worked together on a variety of projects.  

Jenni, Ralph, Lexi, Linnaea, Pete and Joo miss Dave terribly but his memory will last forever.  The sugar maple tree will be a precious reminder of a remarkable man.

To learn more about Dave go to:

A memorial page set up by the Tour Divide:  http://tourdivide.org/blog2010/memory_dave_blumenthal

His blog and a remarkable essay he wrote the day before the race:  http://type2fun.wordpress.com/

His professional website:  http://www.studiozoic.com/