obituary

Dave Cooper at Cape Point in South Africa.

I have nothing better to add about Dave to the excellent obituary provided by his long-time partner Vince.

[…] ἐχθὲς μὲν μυξάριον, αὔριον δὲ τάριχος ἢ τέφρα. […] Τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου βίου ὁ μὲν χρόνος στιγμή, ἡ δὲ οὐσία ῥέουσα, ἡ δὲ αἴσθησις ἀμυδρά, ἡ δὲ ὅλου τοῦ σώματος σύγκρισις εὔσηπτος, ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ ῥεμβός, ἡ δὲ τύχη δυστέκμαρτον, ἡ δὲ φήμη ἄκριτον˙ συνελόντι δὲ εἰπεῖν, πάντα τὰ μὲν τοῦ σώματος ποταμός, τὰ δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς ὄνειρος καὶ τῦφος […] Πομπῆς κενοσπουδία, ἐπὶ σκηνῆς δράματα, ποίμνια, ἀγέλαι,διαδορατισμοί, κυνιδίοις ὀστάριον ἐῤῥιμμένον, ψωμίον εἰς τὰςτῶν ἰχθύων δεξαμενάς, μυρμήκων ταλαιπωρίαι καὶ ἀχθοφορίαι,μυιδίων ἐπτοημένων διαδρομαί, σιγιλλάρια νευροσπαστούμενα. […]

Yesterday a drop of semen, tomorrow a handful of spice and ashes. […] In the life of a man, his time is but a moment, his being an incessant flux, his senses a dim rushlight, his body a prey of worms, his soul an unquiet eddy, his fortune dark, and his fame doubtful. In short, all that is of the body is as coursing waters, all that is of the soul as dreams and vapours […] An empty pageant; a stage play; flocks of sheep, herds of cattle; a tussle of spearmen; a bone flung among a pack of curs; a crumb tossed into a pond of fish; ants, loaded and labouring; mice, scared and scampering; puppets, jerking on their strings […] that is life.

(Marcus Aurelius (121-180 CE), Meditations [writings to himself], IV: 48, II:17, VII:3)

A Farewell to Dave,

It is with a heavy heart, but also with a sense of peace that I share the news of Dave’s passing. He died peacefully in his sleep on July 19, 2025, in Roermond, the Netherlands.
The period leading up to his death saw him grapple with dementia, an illness that is hard to define rationally. His passing was, in the words of the Stoic Seneca the Younger, a “good death.”

“It is not a question of dying earlier or later, but of dying well or ill. And dying well means escape from the danger of living ill”.

(Seneca, Moral letters to Lucilius, LXX:6)

Dave was Dave until the very end: full of energy and an enigma. He wore his heart on his sleeve, misanthropic, dramatic, empathetic, generous, show-offy, difficult at times, and, above all, tremendously loving. Almost everyone I’ve spoken to since he passed said that Dave was one of a kind, and he truly was. I’ll miss him!

Dave and his friend and companion, Erik Wampler, who passed in 1996, were great admirers of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and the Stoic philosophy he left behind. Dave even included the above-quoted lines from Aurelius’s Meditations in Erik’s eulogy.

Funeral and Scattering of Ashes

Dave’s remains will be cremated on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, at 10:30 a.m. CET (1:30 a.m. PST).

In a final tribute to their enduring friendship and shared passions, Dave and Erik’s ashes will be scattered in Québec, Dave’s deuxième patrie. I am currently in touch with our Québec friend, Alain Durand, to finalize the details of when and where this will take place. Further information will follow. You are welcome to be there.

Staying in Touch

If you have any questions, thoughts, or simply wish to connect, please feel free to reach out to me at [my email address] or find me on WhatsApp or Signal at [number redacted].

Thank you,

Vincent,
my brother Merlijn, who made the obituary,
and my friend Ros, who edited the text.

p.s. How better to remember Dave than through the music he liked.

Dave has also been memorialised on the home page of the GNR (Great North Road).

Obituary of Dave Cooper, from Vince.