We are deeply saddened to share that David Del Porto, age 78, passed away suddenly on January 21st in Weaverville, NC. David was the son of Joseph Del Porto and Helen Del Porto (Peterson), and was born in Chicago, IL on June 11, 1941.
He is survived by his loving wife, Elva and their children, Jeff, Jason and his wife Elizabeth, David, Betsy and her husband Paul, and Susan, and their grandchildren, Brandon, Jackson, Luca, Eiche, Max, Lauren, Julian and Prudence, and his sister, Lisa Burn and her husband, Peter.
When his family moved to Scituate, MA, David developed his life-long love of the ocean. He carried his love of boating and fishing on the ocean all his life. David was also an avid mountaineer who hiked extensively throughout New England. David graduated from Boston University in 1967. He was a veteran who served in the United States Army in Frankfurt, Germany.
David was a true steward of the Earth. His career passion was environmental sustainability, where he was an early pioneer. Since 1972 he was a practitioner and advocate of building integrated water efficiency systems and pollution prevention. David held several patents in ecological engineering and was an instructor in sustainable building design at Harvard University’s Extension School and guest lectured at Harvard’s Graduate School, the University of Minnesota, and the Milwaukee School of Engineering. In 2002, David founded the Ecological Engineering Group. He co-authored two books: Reusing the Resource: Adventures in Ecological Wastewater Recycling and The Composting Toilet System Book, and numerous publications. David was an active member and popular lecturer for the Green Decade Coalition in Newton, MA, where his own home, nicknamed the “Urban Ark,” used his own designs to integrate solar heat and wash water treatment.
In fact, so great was David’s commitment to environmental sustainability that, within a year after suffering a serious spinal cord injury, David honored a prior commitment to the people of Micronesia, traveling there to design an ecological waste treatment system to prevent water pollution and preserve coral and coastal habitat.
There will be a service to celebrate David Del Porto’s life at the First Trinitarian Congregational Church at 381 Country Way in Scituate, MA on Saturday, February 15th at 12:00, followed by a reception at the Scituate Harbor Community Building at 44 Jericho Road in Scituate, MA. In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes donations to Waypoint Adventures, who provide adventure-based programs for people with disabilities (www.waypointadventure.org/), and the Appalachian Mountain Club (www.outdoors.org/), which connects people to the freedom and exhilaration of the outdoors.
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
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