Pub. Note: A Celebration of Life was held for Dave Syferd on March 7 in the St. Andrews Ballroom at the Newcastle Golf Club.
Authorities in Blaine County Idaho reported that David Neil Syferd, 74, of Ketchum Idaho, died three days after he was hospitalized when the car he was driving ran off the road on Highway 75 the afternoon of Feb. 11.
Syferd, known to his many friends as Dave, was a veteran ad-agency exec in Seattle. His former business partner for 20 years, Ron Elgin, said: “This is terrible, terrible news. Bonnie and I are devastated over the loss of our beloved friend and the best business partner ever. Dave was the heart and soul of our company and our lives. Rest In peace, brother.”
In a Facebook post, Scott Janzen wrote, “My great friend and mentor, Dave Syferd, has passed away. I’m not handling the news very well. I met him in 1983 when Dave and his partner, Ron Elgin, hired me to join their agency, Elgin Syferd. We worked on so many accounts together, and I have many wonderful memories. I told him often that I learned everything about being a PR pro from him. ‘You’re full of shit,’ he’d reply, then smile that great smile. And we’d laugh. I miss you already, my friend. Peace.”
And Bill Knudsen called Dave “one of the brightest, nicest and incredibly creative people it has ever been my pleasure to call ‘friend.’ He was one of the true good guys in advertising. And, while his golf game may have been mediocre, playing golf with Dave at the lovely little Warm Springs course in Sun Valley was one of the most joyful experiences of my life.”
Idaho authorities said that Syferd’s car, for some unknown reason, crossed the center turn lane and both opposite lanes and came to rest after striking trees on the other side of the highway. Dave was not injured in the crash, but he was flown to a Boise hospital for an unknown medical condition that may have contributed to the accident and his subsequent death in the hospital from heart failure on Feb. 14. He had been battling cancer for several years and recently had suffered a series of mini-strokes.
Dave was a 2014 inductee into the MARKETING IMMORTALS pantheon, where his biography and commentary appear. Here is the link to his obituary in The Seattle Times.