Edward David

Edward David, MD, JD

Edward David died peacefully on September 2, 2025, at the age of 86. He is survived by his brother Michael of Takoma Park MD and his life partner of the last 30 years, Marcella Sorg. He was preceded in death by his parents, Paul and Frances David of White Plains, NY.

Ed was born in New York City on June 26, 1939. He grew up in White Plains NY and spent many summers in Maine at Camp Tall Timbers in the Sebago Lake region, involved in managing waterfront activities. These experiences ingrained in him a love of the outdoors and of Maine. He graduated from Allegheny College in 1961, then from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1965. He went on to complete his internship at Maine Medical Center. He then joined the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, serving two years at the National Institute of Neurologic Disease and Blindness with Dr. Carlton Gajdusek, where his team was able to demonstrate how the neurodegenerative disease of kuru was transmitted. That was followed by a residency in neurology at the Mount Sinai Hospital and The Graduate Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, which included six months in clinical neurophysiology. He subsequently received board certification from the American Board of Clinical Neurophysiology. Ed was recruited to Bangor, Maine in 1972 to join Neurology Associates of Eastern Maine as a practicing neurologist and he became the Chief of the Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratories at Eastern Maine Medical Center.

In 1980 he retired from full-time medical practice and embarked on a new phase of his life working part-time as a medical examiner for the State of Maine. He was appointed as a Deputy Chief Medical Examiner in 1988 and did that work for 36 years. Ed expanded his involvement in legal affairs and forensics, enrolling in law school at the age of 44. He received his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from the University of Maine Law School in 1987. From 1995 to 1997 he was Legislative Assistant for Health Care Policy for Maine's Second Congressional District Representative John E. Baldacci. For eighteen years, from 1989 until 2007, he served as the Chairman of the Maine Board of Licensure in Medicine.

As a medical doctor and a lawyer, Ed was very active in several legal and medical organizations. Within the American Academy of Neurology, he served from 1988 to 1993 on the Legislative Affairs Committee and the Legal Affairs Committee. He served on several committees of the Maine Medical Association, becoming its President from 1987 to 1988. He was Secretary and then President of the American College of Legal Medicine. For many years he served as Co-Director of the New England Seminar in Forensic Sciences at Colby College. Ed was also very active in local governmental affairs, serving as Selectman and Chairman in his hometown of Holden 1978 to 1981, then as Moderator for its annual meetings for many years after that.

In 1991, Ed became involved in training and handling human remains detection (HRD) dogs, activities he truly loved. He and his German Shepherd dogs conducted many successful searches for the Office of Chief Medical Examiner. He was very involved with the Maine Search and Rescue Dog (MESARD) association, assisting with and leading training exercises. In 1998, he became a charter affiliate member of the Maine State Police Evidence Response Team (ERT), and was often involved in searches that required HRD dog teams as well as ERT training exercises. In 2002, he co-authored The Cadaver Dog Handbook with Andrew Rebmann and Marcella Sorg and gave many public presentations and demonstrations on this subject over the years.

Ed David has left an indelible mark of dedicated and wide-ranging public service in Maine spanning more than 50 years. This has included his neurology medical practice, his medical examiner and K-9 casework, and more broadly in his many contributions to local and state governmental affairs as a volunteer and a leader.

His friends and colleagues are invited to a memorial reception to honor his life on Friday, October 10th at Brookings-Smith Family Reception Center, 163 Center Street, Bangor, ME from 3:00 to 6:00 P.M.

In lieu of flowers, friends may wish to contribute in Ed's memory to Maine Search and Rescue Dog, Inc. Checks should be made out to MESARD and sent c/o Nicole St. Pierre, 9 Gemini Drive, Topsham ME 04086, or visit https://mesard.org/donations. (MESARD is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization for tax purposes.)

Condolences may be expressed at BrookingsSmith.com.