When David arrived at Western as a first-year student in 2003, he set his sights on completing an undergraduate degree, beginning initially at Huron College but soon transferring into the Media, Information & Technoculture (MIT) program in the Faculty of Information & Media Studies (FIMS). The morning of the celebration, he was the first to arrive at the venue, ready to help with last minute preparations. While the television news was advising people to stay at home, David was not deterred. The celebration included a guest list of about 200 people, but the night before, a severe ice storm struck Toronto making travel hazardous. Richard recalls an incident from April 2018, when he had been busily planning for his son Benjamin’s Bris. “David had a pure and gentle heart,” says Sarah.
![david reiss wife david reiss wife](https://cbsnews2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2018/04/17/e01e963a-5fc2-4fae-ae14-78801438fb0a/thumbnail/620x408/3baa1584d9d4449a8d143efaa48715b3/lois-riess.jpg)
He loved his dogs, enjoyed riding horses, and was the family handyman. He was a dedicated uncle, babysitting often and taking the kids on outings to hockey or the movies.
![david reiss wife david reiss wife](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/63/b7/a3/63b7a315d5e9b13407e695f00f78684a.jpg)
Sarah and David supported each other and had a strong sibling bond. He made time to spend with everyone - his mother and father, Sarah and her three young children, and his 94-year-old grandmother, with whom he was extremely close. David’s sister, Sarah Warren, remembers her brother’s commitment to the people he loved. Valued greatly for his business acumen, Richard, his wife Jennifer, and their three children Jack, Samuel, and Benjamin also considered “Uncle Dave” a part of their family. David had been hard at work serving as the marketing guru for Richard’s firm at the time of his passing. His family and friends struggled to process what they had lost along with him: his capacity for empathy and compassion, his innate talent for technology and digital communications, his insatiable curiosity, and his positive approach to life. He was the guy that you could always count on for everything.” When David passed away suddenly on September 1, 2019, in Toronto, he left a hole in the lives of all those he had touched. He remembers David as a kind-hearted, humble, honest and loyal friend. Close friend Richard Goldhar, who first met David at Camp Kadimah in Nova Scotia, describes the same sense of caring and a desire to help others that was part of David’s core identity. If he could make life easier for someone, he would always be the first to lend a helping hand,” she recounts. David was most humble, never taking credit where credit was due. He constantly gave and expected nothing in return.
![david reiss wife david reiss wife](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article6413548.ece/ALTERNATES/n310p/David-Reiss.jpg)
“He valued honesty, loyalty and friendship. His mother, Ellen Kline, recalls that her son David considered friends and family to be the most important thing in his life, and he was willing to lend an open hand to anyone in need.
![david reiss wife david reiss wife](https://millerfuneralhomes.funeraltechweb.com/tribute-images/facebook/cropped/188/Shawn-Reiss.jpg)
His love for his family and friends was limitless. Later, grown up and holding a BA from Western, he went on to work in real estate and development in Toronto with his father Sam, he owned his own online brokerage company, and eventually focused his talents on marketing for Goldhar & Associates Ltd., Licensed Insolvency Trustee. Whether it was serving as Director of Administration at Camp Kadimah as a teenager or attending Western University as a student in the Faculty of Information & Media Studies, he committed to hard work from a young age. Remembering David with the gift of education David Jacob Reiss excelled at everything he put his mind to.