Collector David Siegel, RIP

Legendary collector Dave Siegel passed away today at age 84, from complications of Parkinson's Disease. This is a note that I wrote to some collectors -- they asked permission to send it around so it seems they found it interesting -- so I'm posting it here too.

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i knew david for 40 years. the man was a legend -- he traded with everybody, and it didn't matter what size collection you had. so many collectors got their start in the hobby with david. he never turned anyone down because he felt that you never knew when someone, somewhere, would come up with something you might want or might be new, or that david could share with someone else.

david was the first one i knew who organized his reels by series. back when he started collecting in the early 70s, most of the reels people would trade would have a mix of shows. but david dutifully (but not always carefully which became a subject of some mutual amusement over the years) transferred each of the shows to a reel dedicated to that series. he was heartbroken when basf discontinued selling reels in the grey plastic boxes with the hinged white side that had a nice profile on a bookshelf, and he could place a sticker with the series name and reel number on it. i remember that collection vividly... and in my late teens i knew i wanted to collect that way. dave was my otr hero. i wanted to be like dave so basf discontinued them, and he bought as many reels as possible and even traded shows to get more of those boxes! i found a few a couple of years later and got one of dave's famous phone calls thanking me and offering way more to me than it deserved. back at that time, there were always collectors who traded hour for hour and kept really close track of things, in some cases being quite annoying about that. dave was never that way. it was like his collection was your collection. all you had to do was ask and stop by the house, which i did many times when i was in westchester county. the door was always open

we talked about a lot of things over the years. you know someone that long and you're bound to get into things about family and occupations and events... when i went on otr hiatus in the 1990s as i started a business and we became involved in family life, we still stayed in touch. in these last years as i got going in otr again i tried to send him stuff every few months -- one time i visited with a hard drive with my entire collection -- which he referred to when he said "get that devil machine out of my house!" what's odd about the way david collected is that it's the way most all digital otr collections are kept. he was a pioneer! but he found the digital hobby to be confusing. yes, dave was one of those guys you'd hear about whose vcr might flash "12:00" for years [it's hard to believe vcr jokes are out of date by 20 years now -- gosh i'm getting old]

there was always laughter when we talked. he was such an easy target -- and the trick was always to make him laugh at a meal in mid-chew. he would laugh at the joke and of course its timing. and he would always strike back -- and we'd laugh some more

the last 2 times i saw dave was at the last fotr convention in 2011 and then in 2012, the day we sold our house in rhode island and started our drive to north carolina as we embarked on our new empty nest life. we had lunch with susan and dave in white plains and had a great 2 hours together.

in the calls over these last years, the frustration he had with parkinsons grew, and i'm sure he had really down times, but whenever you'd talk to him he was always cheerful. he lost his ability to type (his spelling was horrible, and he resisted blaming his typing, and that was funny at times, too) but that only meant you had to talk to him more. some days the parkinsons would affect the strength of his voice, but it never affected the strength of his knowledge and his humor.

i will always miss dave and so many of us will always hold him in our hearts in a special place and a special way

God bless Dave, and Susan especially, who put up with this crazy hobby and in recent years with the affection, dedication, and love through all of the challenges that parkinson's and the maladies that dave had (and defeated!).

We will all miss our hobby's most relentless collector.... and i didn't even mention all those books... yeah, he had lots of those too...

Joe W

Heartwarming tribute, Joe. You're a good friend and an eloquent one as well. Affection and support go out to his family.
Jeff

Such a sad loss for the OTR community. But the legacy he leaves behind is timeless. The work he did in collecting and sharing will be enjoyed for generations to come. It's thank's to David Siegel and other dedicated OTR collectors and researchers, including quite a few right here in this group, that OTR will continue to exist for those future generations.

Thank You Greybelt for sharing this with us.

Space

David Goldin gave the eulogy at the service for Dave Siegel; Susan Siegel asked me to make it available to the hobby
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