David George Tobler

David George Tobler of Brunswick, Ga. passed away the morning of August 24, 2024 at the St. Simons Island home of his son, Paul, and his family. David was born on February 22, 1952 in Bay Shore, Long Island N.Y. to Eugenia Bailey and George Paul Tobler. He was the youngest of his siblings, Paul Effingham and Kay Madalyn.

David excelled in school and in athletics. He went to Harbor Country Day School in St. James, Long Island, then Lenox School for Boys in Massachusetts and graduated from George Washington University with a degree in history. The person he admired most in history was our first president, and he felt lucky to have been born on the same day we celebrate Washington’s birthday.

Among the sports David played in high school were football and baseball. He also grew to love golf, learning it from his father at an early age and quickly excelling at it. As an adult, there’s nothing he liked more than to be out on the golf course on St. Simon’s Island hitting an epically long drive. He passed on his passion for golf to his son Paul, who was his favorite golfing buddy. David also embarked as an adult playing rugby for nearly two decades as a member of the Golden Isles Hammerheads. He kept playing, as many ruggers do, until a massive leg fracture ended his playing career. Many of those teammates remain his best buddies to this day.

He married Catherine Grobert in August, 1984 on the beach on the New Jersey coast. They lived in Southport, North Carolina, where Paul David Tobler was born, and then after a few years moved to Brunswick where they lived on Union Street in an old Victorian home. David put many years into painting and restoring the house where his mother and grandmother eventually came to live, as well.

David worked in the insurance business for most of his life, first on Long Island with his father then in Brunswick in an independent company George had established. For a short time, he worked for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company but liked working for a small company more.

In recent years, he cherished being around his two grandchildren, George Paul and Grace Phillips. David is survived by them, their father, Paul (wife Carly), his sister, Kay, his nephew Forrest Liss, and favorite cousin, Jim Jones.

A celebration of David’s life will be held Saturday, Sept. 7 at 11 a.m. at the Edo Miller and Sons Funeral Home in Brunswick with family visitation prior at 10 a.m.