WALLACE, David H, 82, of Wellesley, passed away peacefully in his home on November 25, 2019. Beloved husband of the late Jessie (Young) Wallace for 56 years, and beloved brother of Deborah E.Wallace of Lincoln, MA and the late Marjorie R.Wallace of Sudbury, MA and Cotuit, MA. Uncle David will also be missed by his ten nieces and nephews -- Nina Feldman, Liza Feldman, Jules Batchelor, Nicholas Stahl, John Stahl, Dean Stahl, Matthew Stahl, David Young, Nancy Young, and Emily Gaudinier -- as well as by their significant others and their children. He also leaves his sister-in-law, Joyce Y. Stahl of Charlestown RI and his brother-in-law, Arden S. Young, of Binghamton, NY.
David was a graduate of Harvard University and earned his Ph.D in Molecular Biology at MIT. Early in his career, he worked at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratories developing food technologies for NASA’s space programs. In 1974, he joined the newly established New England Biolabs, where he took part in groundbreaking genomic research. An avid runner and cyclist, he commuted by bike for many years from his home in Wellesley to his work in Ipswich, a roundtrip of 76 miles. He loved to tinker with everything and anything, from antique motorcycles to broken kitchen utensils to makeshift exercise equipment.
A fixture in the town of Wellesley, David will be missed by many, especially by his ever-attentive family of neighbors on Donizetti Street who cared for him deeply. He was an active citizen, volunteering at the Wellesley Recycling Center and the Wellesley Public Library as well as co-founding the Wellesley Farmers’ Market. But David was best known for his daily walks throughout the town, no matter what kind of weather. He was such a frequent sight that his neighbors dubbed him “the man who walked everywhere.”
A private graveside ceremony will be held at Woodlawn Cemetery, 148 Brook St. in Wellesley. A generous philanthropist himself, David may be remembered with donations to the Audubon Society, Newton Wellesley Hospital, the Wellesley Public Library, or to a charity of one’s choice.