David Paul Ruth

Born to a Pennsylvania Dutch family, the genealogy of which he lovingly and painstakingly compiled, Dave was raised in Reading, Pennsylvania. From a young age, he excelled in math and science (“it’s just memorization!”), enjoyed playing baseball on the local Reading Phillies team, and playing the cello, interests he shared with his father and brother. In his senior year at Wilson High School, Dave was featured as the soloist on the Goltermann Cello Concerto no. 4 with the Reading Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a student majoring in meteorology at Penn State University, Dave also studied linguistics, ancient Greek, and Chinese. His interest in Chinese language and culture led him to take a year abroad at the University of Beijing, where he met Gordana Topalovic, a Serbian student who was studying Chinese language and literature. After his return to the United States, they kept in touch writing letters for three years, eventually marrying on August 23, 1986.

Dave served for over forty years with the National Weather Service Meteorological Development Laboratory (MDL). For thirty of those years, he held leadership roles as a Division Chief, Deputy MDL Director, and Acting MDL Director. His sustained focus on service delivery had a lasting impact on the NWS Mission and Society, and his accomplishments included developing and implementing numerous applications, including the Interactive Computer Worded Forecast, the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD), the Whole Story Uncertainty and Probabilities (WSUP) Viewer, and comparative forecast verifications of NDFD and the National Blend of Models. His recognitions included earning the NOAA Administrator's Award in 2004 and the 2021 AMS award for outstanding contribution to applied meteorology for extraordinary leadership.

Dave loved being outdoors and especially enjoyed kayaking, hiking, and swimming. His knowledge of the Maryland waterways was unmatched, and his need to always know what was just around the corner kept him moving long after his companions were ready to call it a day. Particular to a fault, Dave believed that anything worth doing was worth doing right. He took beautiful photographs, mowed his lawn in perfect clean rows, lovingly cared for a garden department’s worth of house plants, and was such an excellent driver that he never once in his life was in an accident or received a ticket of any kind.

His love of music was a theme throughout his life and included everything from classical symphonic masterworks to Dave Matthews Band. Both of his children share this passion, and Dave loved listening to Alex’s album So Forth and Tanya’s performances as a classical singer. Dave was a devoted father who supported his children pursuing their dreams of becoming a musician (Tanya) and a chiropractor (Alex).

A man of few words, Dave could always be relied upon for a well-timed zinger or insightful observation (“Just because it’s true doesn’t mean anyone wants to hear it.”). Despite often being as solitary as a cat (famously saying, “If I had a friend, I’d leave him alone!”) Dave loved traveling with and spending time with family, especially if games were involved. Defying statistical probability, he somehow always won at pinochle, Settlers of Catan, and Codenames.

Dave is survived by his loving wife of 39 years Gordana, his children Tanya and Alexander, son- and daughter-in-law Michael Langlois and Lily Stevens, granddaughters Carmen and Gabrielle Langlois, and older sister Linda Ruth. He was preceded in death by his parents, Paul Boldt Ruth and Phyllis (Kehres) Ruth, his older brother Timothy, and Gordana’s parents, Dusan and Vera Topalovic.

In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to Friends of Patuxent (https://friendsofpatuxent.org/) or to the Glioblastoma Foundation (https://glioblastomafoundation.org/).

A Receiving of Friends will be held on February 21, 2026, from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm at Witzke Funeral Homes Inc., located at 5555 Twin Knolls Road, Columbia, MD 21045. A Celebration of Life will follow at the same venue on February 21, 2026, starting at 1:00 pm, followed by a catered reception.