David Freeman

Only a vaudevillian and big band singer could have produced the baby born on July 28, 1948 who would grow up to be David Freeman. Born in Manhattan to Harry Freeman who was 55 at the time of David’s birth and Jean who was 20 at his birth, David attended elementary school in NYC and fondly remembered his classmates, playing by the river and countless games of stick ball. He spent many afternoons with this dad exploring the Natural History Museum or hanging around the Variety Club with a motley cadre of entertainers. Jean eventually left singing to enter a dream career for little David --- managing a candy store on the Upper West Side.

Sadly, Harry and Jean divorced and David moved to Marlton NJ with his mother, stepfather, Rob Rooney and later his brother Rob. He marveled at the farmlands but bemoaned the lack of the “real” dinosaurs he loved at the Natural History Museum in NYC. His sadness didn’t last long as his good nature took over and he grew to love his new home, excelling in academics and lettering in football and track at Lenape High School. Following graduation from Lenape, he attended Trenton State College (he would never, ever call it by its alleged new name of College of New Jersey and forbade all others from doing so), initially majoring in physical education but later finding his calling in history and political science. David’s innate loyalty led to the formation of several life-long friendships and his devotion to a good story. Over the years he relayed so many great adventures, some of the tamer stories involved nights spent sleeping in the upper luggage rack of a train after rather festive evenings in NYC.

Following a short stint with the New Jersey Labor department after college graduation and the pursuit of a Master’s degree at Rutgers University, David discovered his passion for law and entered Rutgers Law School. He loved jurisprudence and would love talking about all aspects of the law his entire life. After a few years with Community Legal Services in New Jersey where he worked on innovative ways to use bankruptcy laws to help clients, David entered private practice and was employed in a variety of areas including family, criminal defense and bankruptcy. Several years later he started his own firm with a partner in Yardley, Pennsylvania. He also served as a prosecutor for New Jersey townships and as the long-time counsel to the zoning board in Evesham, New Jersey.

Eventually David felt the need to use his legal knowledge in new ways and he became a professor of criminal justice at Community College and an adjunct at a number of local universities. David was a natural teacher and became a beloved professor and mentor who delighted in seeing his students’ success and growth. He kept in contact with countless students over the years, and got a huge smile on his face every time he heard from one of his alums. While at CCP he co-founded Law and Society Week and the Fox Rothschild Center for Law and Society which sponsored numerous programs and service learning opportunities. He also originated the Computer Forensics Program at the College.

Shortly before starting at CCP David met Kathy Smith through their dear mutual friend Holly Ford and they both fell hard for each other. After knowing each other for 8 months they married in a ceremony at a friend’s farm. David, worried that he would be bored waiting for the festivities to begin, rented an elaborate chicken suit and directed traffic before the ceremony. To the delight of his mother, he did agree to change into a tux for the actual wedding. He also designed their wedding invitations, but in a pique of frugality had them printed in black and white so he invited friends to “coloring parties” to add some brightness to the invitations. In May of this year Kathy and David celebrated 30 years of marriage and debated vigorously over who was the luckier spouse, an argument that continued without resolution through the last day of his life.

Recent years brought challenges that David handled with his usual aplomb. Eleven years ago he was diagnosed with CML, a type of leukemia, which thanks to amazing scientific advances was treatable with a normal lifespan expected. About 8 years ago he began to experience tremors, first in one hand and then in the other. With his usual humor he dealt with spilled coffee and dropped silverware. Once again a medical miracle came to the rescue and he underwent two focused ultrasound treatments at UPenn that cured the tremors. The pre-treatment revealed that he had Parkinson’s, although the doctor described it as a slow onset disease and most recently it was discovered that he had some heart disease which was treated with medication.

Despite his health challenges David was always looking for new ways to grow and to contribute and in the past four years worked part-time with Montgomery Law where he helped parents and children with special education and higher education. He found this work to be very rewarding in helping improve the lives of children and young people.

In addition to teaching and practicing law, David loved to cook, inventing new recipes daily. He adored science fiction, especially cheesy 1950’s films with tin-can aliens.He was also an avid reader of both fiction and nonfiction and loved spending time with his dogs. David inherited his parent’s musical talents and in addition to his delight in discovering new artists, he dabbled with playing guitar, mandolin, violin and, most recently saxophone. He adored his Mt. Airy neighborhood and neighbors and frequently commented that he had never imagined such a warm and supportive place existed outside of fairy tales.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Kathleen (Kathy) Smith, his fur buddies, Romeo and Homer, his adored nephews through marriage, Zachery Smith and Alex Smith and countless dear friends including Holly Ford, Louis Esposito and Bob Harding, Sally Lynn Galbraith, Susan and Bob Fleming, Thomas Cuane and Shazz Rodriquez and Becky and Harry Southwell. He was predeceased in death by his mother Jean Rooney, his father Harry Freeman, his brother Rob Rooney, his nephew Nicholas Smith and several wonderful mutts.