David Lee Markowitz

1959 - 2016

1959 - February 25, 2016 David was surrounded by family when he passed away at age 56. When he was 15, he suffered a terrible accident which left him a quadriplegic. The following achievements are wonderful for anyone, but were exceptional for a man in a wheelchair with minimal use of his hands. David graduated with the rest of his class at Sunny Hills High School to a standing ovation. He earned his BS and MS in Computer Science at CSU-Fullerton where he tutored and inspired other students. He worked as a UNIX program developer and trouble shooter by companies including Rockwell, Sun Microsystems and Oracle. For nearly 40 years after his accident, David was able to lead a full and relatively independent (during the day) life. In the past 3 years, his complex medical issues kept him from driving and working, and finally took our David. His interests included family and friends, punning, all technology, the CSU-F Titans baseball, SciFi, music, theatre, games and photography. During all of those years, David maintained his courage, sense of humor, independence, optimism, generosity, scholarship, devotion to family and friends. He always loved and we all loved back because he was totally alive, involved and awesomely inspiring to everyone who knew him. David is survived by his mother, Ruth Blosser of Fullerton/Anaheim; sisters Judy (Shlomo) Sofer of Yorba Linda, Laurie Spence (Dale Harrison) of Ukiah; step-siblings David Blosser, Pamela Foster, Jim Blosser; nephews and nieces: Oren Kaplan (Kara Luiz, grandniece Winter), Dean Sofer, Leeav Sofer, Herron Spence, Daniel Spence, step-niece Shannon Nigro. He was predeceased by father, Julius L. Markowitz, MD and stepfather, Richard (Dick) Blosser. Donations may be made to the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, PO Box 016960, Miami, FL, 33101, ph (305) 243-7147.