David Philip Edelstein

David was born and raised in Nashua, the third child of Harold and Katharine Edelstein.  As a young man, David moved to Portsmouth where he eventually opened two businesses on Ceres Street: The Trunk Shop and a toy store called Little Dickens. He became an expert in antiques, particularly rare antique trunks, and his beautifully restored early American trunks were sought by collectors across the country.  In 1986, David married Annie Blanchard. Together they moved to North Berwick, where their daughter Molly was born in 1987. 

David was known for his intelligence, wit, curiosity and grand philosophical theories about the nature of life. He was a talented guitarist, a peace activist, and an iconoclast, continually questioning the accepted wisdom of the world. Mark Twain was his greatest hero and model, and David sometimes proved the equal of that model in his ironic assaults on pomposity and pretense.

Above all, he was a sweet, loving, and generous man, who will be deeply and forever missed by his family and his many friends. He is survived by his wife Annie Blanchard, his daughter Molly, his sisters Linda Morse and Eve Edelstein Williams, his brother Mark Edelstein, his niece Anne, and his nephews Ben and Noah.

A memorial service will be held Sunday November 16 at 12:30 at Temple Israel synagogue, 36 Olive Meadow Lane in Dover (formerly 516 Sixth Street). In lieu of flowers, donations in David’s memory may be made to Doctors Without Borders.