PORTLAND — David J. Van Dyke, 58, passed away Friday, Feb. 23, after suffering a heart attack one week earlier. A loving husband, father, brother and friend, David was a man of abundant zest and generosity of spirit. Everyone who knew him was struck by his enormous energy and beaming smile.

Born in Waukegan, Ill., on Sept. 14, 1959, David was educated in the Waukegan public schools and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1981. He earned his law degree at Harvard University Law School in 1984. He met his wife, Karen, at the Boston law firm Foley, Hoag & Eliot in 1990, and they were married in April 1991. Together they moved to Lewiston, where they started a family and fell in love with Maine.

David’s legal practice, first at Berman & Simmons and then at Hornblower, Lynch, Rabasco & Van Dyke (which became Lynch & Van Dyke), took him all over the state, and he always knew the best route to take to get wherever he needed to go. His sense of adventure guided Karen and the couple’s sons, Devin and John, on many wonderful trips.

At Christmas, he would thrill each member of the family with thoughtful gifts, often tickets for wished-for shows or travel, and would hide notes with clever rhyming clues throughout the house as part of a scavenger hunt leading to a fun treat to share. He was a whiz with facts on a great many subjects and could captivate any audience, including judges and juries, with his powers of persuasion. He loved cross-country skiing to the cabin at Stowe, floating on Thompson Lake in a big plastic raft, pizza, popcorn and helping clients resolve their legal troubles, among many other things, but most of all he loved his family.

He is survived by his loving wife, Karen; sons, Devin and John; and siblings, Ann and John Walin (sister and brother-in-law), and Michael and Natasha Van Dyke (brother and sister-in-law).

David J. Van Dyke

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