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David was a supporter of Stetson University in DeLand, Florida and enjoyed a close relationship with the University and Grady Ballenger, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and Professor of English. Dean Ballenger so aptly described David below:
“David lived his life out loud, holding himself to the high standards of the original American artist, always a little and sometimes a lot outside of the proprieties of bourgeois conventions. From our first conversation, he made it clear that what he wanted to do with his life was quite simple: to honor his family's legacy of devotion to the arts and to the land; to honor a great tradition of American artists (the Beats and other ‘bohemians') and their questioning of convention; and to inspire college students to follow their true passion for living creatively, not merely seeking a job or pursuing someone else's conception of life.
“Together, with help from Keith Bollum, his secretary, and Robert Plunket, his friend, we created a program that honored his ancestor James Turner Butler, an early graduate of Stetson, and others including Etta McTeer Turner, who served as Dean of Women and then Dean of Students. That program, generously supported by David and members of his family, allowed us each year to bring to campus an accomplished artist, writer, musician, or filmmaker for a residency. David worked closely with a faculty committee charged with overseeing this creative lectureship. I remember vividly his explaining that he was most interested in candidates who weren't ‘academic,' by which he meant folks who wrote, or painted, or made art that professors loved, and perhaps no one else. David was interested in folks whose creativity challenged everyone, including professors.
“As you can imagine, the give and take between academics and David as they worked on finding the right person, accomplished but challenging in equal proportions, was always lively. Here's the amazing thing: David offered up names and ways of contacting folks that everyone agreed were worthy. So, with David's generous support and his active involvement in making connections, we began an amazing adventure that led to an extraordinary series of James Turner Butler Lectures: Jill Clayburgh and Amy Robinson [widely accomplished actors/producers, 2007]; Billy Collins [former US Poet Laureate, 2008]; David Amram [legendary American composer] and Art Spiegleman [Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novelist, both 2009]; and Jonathan Franzen [National Book Award novelist, 2010]. David himself premiered his film “Vanishing Florida” under the auspices of the series, and last year with support from the JTB lectures he also hosted Gordon Ball, a leading historian of Allen Ginsberg and the Beats who lectured both at Stetson and also at Bellamy Road. This is an amazing list for any small university and any small Southern town.
“With each lecture, the important thing for David was that our students and faculty, and the wider public, have an opportunity to hear these distinguished visitors in formal presentations but also to talk with them in informal conversations. Art, I think he would say, is serious, but it need not be stuffy. I'm sure our students will remember their encounters with these artists for the rest of their lives.
“We were in discussion about our 2012 JTB Lecturer, and David was excited about inviting Martin Scorsese in 2013. My most recent conversation with David, this past summer, was sadly one sided. David left a phone message from Hollywood, joking that he was out there becoming a star, and adding with deadly seriousness that he was really keen on trying to get Scorsese to Florida.
“As we all do, David had created a comfortable persona for the world. I'm sure it took a great deal of energy to create that persona. I'm not even sure where I'd go to find a good pair of Bermuda shorts these days and a double-breasted jacket to go with them. He could be loud and outrageous, especially if there was a chance to unsettle the dignified. He could be passionate, in talking about great art (like Asher Durand's “Progress”) or great writers (Hemingway). He could be generous to a fault in supporting art and artists. He once told me that a former girlfriend had lambasted him for not using his resources and gifts to make political change, to challenge the governor of Florida, for example, on funding for arts education. David answered calmly that politics wasn't his thing, but that every cent he had he was already giving to art, notably through establishing Bellamy Road, the cultural arts center in Melrose, Florida and supporting the James Turner Butler Lectures at Stetson.
“David had a great sense of humor about his own life as an artist ‘on the road.' His book and film “Vanishing Florida” stand as a record of a time and way of life already lost, and his accounts of “Sheriff Jim Turner” and “Bimini” will have lasting charm for those interested in Florida's history and island culture. I'm so glad that he was able to see “Druid City” to print. It's a lovely memory book of the unlovely time of segregation in the Deep South, and now it will be the book that I remember David by. It's a powerfully Southern story, full of the past, of the force of family, of the connection of races despite all the law could do to separate them. David had found a wonderful photographer to collaborate with, and the words were, well, his words and exactly right.
“All of us who knew David and worked with him at Stetson will miss him. May he rest in peace, and may we, going forward, be worthy of his commitment to the lively arts.”
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