On July 9^th, our friend and colleague David O’Brien lost his battle to cancer. He is being remembered by his family, daughter Kari, son Michael, Michael’s wife Anne – Marie and David’s Grandson James and Granddaughter Penelope. He touched the lives of the members of Evergreen Squash Club and many of us in the Junior Mining industry.

David was an eccentric character and was fortunate to find kindred spirits amongst the eccentricities of those characters that work as Geologists, Analysts and in Investor Relations within the Junior Mining sector. David loved people and wanted to engage with literally everyone he met, preferably over some food or drinks, and always enjoyed sharing stories about his past while trying to learn about theirs. Everyday was an opportunity to have a good time. I have never known him to ever say a disparaging word about anyone nor do I think he even had a single mean bone in his body. To David everyone he met was a potential new friend.

I have had the pleasure of knowing David since 2008, when he joined the Prospector News as a regular contributor. At his passing he was easily the longest serving and most prolific contributor. We spoke last Christmas as we always did to wind up the year. At that time, we calculated that David had contributed nearly 170 articles over the past 15 years. David was always very specific as to how his articles were to appear, so I knew that the cancer he had was a lot worse than he let on when last September when he accepted the use of a “ghost writer” for his final few articles.

Those in the mining business often referred to us as the “Odd Couple” as we are nothing alike. We joked between ourselves that we were the cartoon dogs from Looney Tunes. David being the hyper little dog and me, the plodding bulldog.  A kind of Mutt and Jeff relationship.

As many of you are likely aware David had a particular way of referencing things (a David O’Brien code) that didn’t make sense to many other than David. I often worried about myself over the years when I started to make sense of the O’Brien code and knew what he was talking about without asking.

Finally I will share what I felt was David’s greatest quality. Even in the darkest of clouds he could find a silver lining that meant things wouldn’t be so bad. I hope he has found that permanent silver lining.

For a little guy he is going to leave a Large Hole.

I think our mutual friend Ellis Martin summed things up perfectly.

“David O’Brien was my friend. And many of yours. An extremely nice, warm spirited and kind person. Rest well, friend..in peace.”

If any of you wish to make a remembrance of David, please donate to the BC Cancer Agency so they can continue David’s fight going forward.