It is with great shock and deep sadness that we learned of the untimely passing of Dave DePaolo. We send our most sincere condolences to his family and his colleagues.
Dave has been one of the most important voices in our industry and an online workers comp pioneer. He was founder and president of workcompcentral, one of the early online specialty media communities dedicated to news, education and data content to the workers’ compensation industry. He also maintained his own blog, DePaolo’s World, a regular stop for us here at Workers Comp Insider. We’ve relied on and linked to his keen insight here many times.
As an attorney, he had a sharp mind and a deep expertise in the many nuances of the workers compensation system. He was an educator to us all; passionate about the rights and wrongs of the system, and giving voice to the injured worker at the heart of the system. A remarkable man, his influence and voice will be missed. You can learn more about him at his workcompcentral biography. His posted obituary notice is here: DePaolo, WorkCompCentralCentral Founder, Dead at 56. In less than one day, it has amassing 4,500+ views and dozens of comments, well worth reading to get a sense of the impact he had on our community.
Here are two tributes from bloggers that we found moving because both go beyond the basic facts of his life and give a window into the man.
Life is short. Live it like David did. This blog post by Joe Paduda focuses on the way Dave lived his life to the fullest, including some personal details of his life that many of his regular readers may have been unaware.
Godspeed David DePaolo; You Were What Was Right in Workers’ Comp, and Your Voice Will Be Missed
This a warm and heartfelt tribute by Bob Wilson at his blog. Here’s an excerpt:
Exemplifying David’s passion towards our industry, one needs look no further than the CompLaude Awards. CompLaude is an annual effort created by DePaolo to recognize top achievers in our industry. It recognizes people from all sectors of comp, including injured workers; people who have achieved beyond the expected results normally seen in the realm of workplace injuries. David felt strongly that the workers’ compensation industry needs to highlight the good things we accomplish, and fight the persistent negative image cast upon us by external forces and bad players within the industry. He was right to insist on that – and David DePaolo was one of the good things workers’ comp needs to celebrate.
David was unique among industry bloggers because he wrote with a special human interest; he invited us into his home and shared his family with us, all while gearing the overall message to one applicable in workers’ comp. We became acquainted with his parents, following the lives of both his father and mother, through the aging process and related ailments to their ultimate passing. We celebrated their love and suffered his loss, all because David willingly invited us in and made us feel at home.
We’ve just seen the passing of WCRIBMA’s Paul Meagher here in Massachusetts, recently, too. Very sad time for our industry. Take Joe Paduda’s advice as modeled by Dave: Live your life fully.
Tags: Dave DePaolo, obituary
