DAVID SIMMONS

David Anthony Simmons died on December 2, 2020 in Haines Alaska. David was killed when a catastrophic landslide measuring 600 feet wide and 2500 feet long came crashing down from the steep mountainside above his 3.5-acre ocean front property. The resulting aftermath left a 30-foot-deep canyon where 100-foot-tall spruce trees used to surround his picturesque property, as his home was literally scraped off the face of the earth. David was born on April 9, 1990 in Chico. He attended Neal Dow Elementary School, Bidwell Junior High School and Pleasant Valley High School. David was a straight A student and an all-star varsity basketball and baseball player that led championship teams in both sports. He was selected to be the 2008 commencement speaker at his senior graduation. He especially loved baseball. He started switch-hitting when he was 5 years old in order to make it to the professional ranks. David played baseball for Shasta Junior College his freshman year, and the following year moved to Germany to attend Deggendorf Institute of Technology and play semi-pro baseball.

David completed his bachelor’s degree in business administration Magna Cum Laude at Chico State University graduating in the top 2%. His post graduate studies included a year at Saint Petersburg State University of Finance and Economics in Russia, and a Master of Science in International Business at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. In 2016-17 he served as a Fulbright scholar working for the United States Embassy in Minsk, Belarus where he was a university lecturer to his Russian speaking students. The following year he worked in international marketing and sales in Germany.

Throughout his 20’s David’s greatest passion was to travel the world. He was fluent in French, German and Russian languages. During the last 10 years he visited,

y filmed and wrote about adventures in 77 countries as he circled the globe three times. He produced a YouTube video series explaining how to use free airline miles and the revenue from 400,000 views basically financed his airline expenses. He completed his shoe-string travel budget by joining an international couch surfing organization. “It changed me absolutely. I saw people as people and not nationalities,” he wrote. “We are one human community… no matter what passport we carry, what religion, what color.”

In the spring of 2017, he traveled to Haines Alaska to visit his cousin for a 4-day weekend and fell in love with the town. Nine months later he quit his corporate job in Germany and settled in Haines after years of traveling and living abroad. He established a shuttle bus tour service, Hinterland Express, to connect Haines to the Canadian tourists and the international airport in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. David knew he would be spending the rest of his life in Haines as he played city league basketball, skied, hiked, fished, hunted and kayaked, creating lifelong friendships. In the summer of 2019 David met the love of his life Libby Jacobson in Haines. In the spring of 2020 David purchased a spectacular waterfront property. He and Libby gardened and worked on their home together and had plans to purchase adjacent parcels to preserve the cove known as Full Moon Cove and surrounding forest. Their place was a center for friends and family, with bonfires on the beach, and dance parties. “The people in Haines are a huge element of why I stayed and want to be here the rest of my life. But it’s also this land. There is something in these mountains, in the area, that speaks to my soul”

In August 2020 David was hired as the Executive Director of the Haines Economic Development Corporation. In the ensuing months he organized a “shop local program” and with the help from the CARES Act program helped generate more than $250,000 in sales to local businesses. Additionally, David was instrumental in helping apply for and receive millions of dollars of COVID-19 relief funding for local businesses and independent fishermen. All of this economic stimulus was monumental to a small town of approximately 2000. David had spent the last

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5 years writing a book about his traveling experiences as part of his “World as One” multimedia project. He had recently bought a new computer for the task, but had dropped it and sent it in for repairs before he had used it much. His father assumed the book was on his old computer, lost in the landslide. A week after his death the repaired computer returned in the mail, and “the miracle is that the manuscript showed up on it.” The videos did not. A few days later a German friend discovered that David had 10TB of photos and videos backed up on hard drives in Germany. David’s father has begun the process of reading and editing the original draft of the book, and a wellconnected travel writer, filmmaker and fan of David has offered to help edit, publish, and promote the project. David’s father and Libby will write the last chapter together.

David is survived by his fiancé Libby Jacobson, father Randy Simmons, step mother Rochelle Simmons, sister Michaela Simmons, step sister Erika Denney and step brother Todd Denney. David touched the lives of literally thousands of people in every corner of the world with his joy and thrill for life. He made things happen. He viewed each day as his best day because it was today that he would do great things. Words will never be able to describe the joy he brought to a room, the energy he gave to others or the attention he gave to us when we spoke to him. They will not be able to describe how his smile warmed us or how contagious his laugh was. David would have done anything for the people he cared for, and he proved that time and time again. Friends have created the Facebook page “David of Haines – David Simmons” where people from all over the world have contributed their story about the shared experiences and adventures with him. Please check out this YouTube video filmed in his back yard last September to get a very clear picture of the person David was and his love for Haines Ak. youtu.be/9olgprzwR-U