David Hubert Grover

June 12, 1925 ~ May 19, 2019

Pacific Grove

Dr. David H. Grover died at his home at Canterbury Woods in Pacific Grove at the age of 93. He was born in Port Richmond, New York and spent his early years in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he met his wife, the former Marilyn Barnett of Cheyenne, Wyoming. During World War II, he graduated from the U. S. Merchant Marine Academy and spent the next several years at sea as a Naval Reserve and Merchant Marine Officer. He later earned degrees from Colorado State University, the University of Colorado, and the University of Oregon, after which he spent the balance of his career as an educator in several western states.

Dr. Grover’s final institutional affiliation was with the California Maritime Academy where he served as Academic Dean in the 1970s. He retired from the state of California as a higher education specialist in 1983 and returned to the sea for several more months as an officer on a government seagoing dredge.

After retirement, Dr. Grover began a second career as a writer of maritime history, with six books in that genre adding to two books of western American history which he wrote earlier while teaching at Oregon State University. He also produced scores of articles on maritime and naval history, including several which were co-authored with his children and grandchildren.

Dr. Grover is survived by his wife of sixty-nine years, Marilyn; daughters, Gretchen MacDonald of Talkeetna, AK, Dr. Jill Olla of Waldport, OR and Rebecca Anderson of Calabasas, CA; grandchildren, Dr. Casey Grover of Monterey, CA, Bonnie Knecht of Calabasas, CA, and Veronica Anderson of Houston, TX and three great-grandchildren, Kai Close-Grover of Monterey, Aaron Knecht and Claire Knecht of Calabasas. He was preceded in death by his son, Jeffrey, of Pebble Beach.

Private family services will be held.