David M. Leslie ’51

David M. Leslie ’51, whose great passions were his family, the outdoors and Dartmouth, died on February 5 in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, area where he had spent his entire life. He is survived by four children, 11 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. His wife, Mary, and a daughter predeceased him. Dave was one of a handful of ’51s who lived in married student housing in Hanover, having eloped with Mary during his senior year. He was a member of Casque & Gauntlet and president of Alpha Delta Phi. Following graduation he served Dartmouth and his class as class secretary from 1951 to 1957 and as a member of a trustees’ committee on alumni affairs. Dave worked in the paper industry in the Twin Cities, then moved to the investment business for the last 35 years of his working life. He sold securities for Merrill Lynch and later for Piper Jaffray Inc., where he was a vice president. Dave spent untold hours trolling for walleyes on Mille Lacs Lake and hunkered in duck blinds on Fish Lake and Lake of the Woods. With his family he camped, birded and enjoyed vacations and weekends at their cabin in northern Wisconsin. In later years he and Mary enjoyed winters in the Florida Keys. His enthusiasm for hummingbirds led him to invent the Hummer Helmet for close-up observation and feeding of the colorful birds. Dave loved to tell of his appearance as “Hummer Dave” on the David Letterman show, extolling the virtues of his prize invention.