David Erickson

David Oscar Erickson, 87, of Raleigh, North Carolina, passed away April 24, 2025, after a short illness. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1937, as the only child of the late Oscar B. Erickson and Katherine A. Young, he was a graduate of Brentwood High School, in Pittsburgh, and earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics, in 1959, from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce of the University of Pennsylvania. He then attended Harvard Business School, before embarking on a career in finance with several companies in New York City where he met and married his beloved wife of 57 years, Marcia W. Haight. In 1980, he moved his young family to Roanoke, Virginia, where he pivoted to venture capital and entrepreneurial endeavors that would continue for the remainder of his working life. He relocated to Raleigh, North Carolina in 1987, where he engaged in mergers and acquisitions, commercial real estate brokerage, tax preparation services, and management of mineral properties. A voracious reader of non-fiction, always with a book at hand, he possessed an inquisitive mind and a personality sometimes gregarious yet often introspective. Tall and athletic, he enjoyed rowing crew at university, long walks in New York City, bicycling to work in Roanoke and Raleigh, tending fastidiously to his vegetable garden, and frequenting many parks and trails with his wife and family in Raleigh. While fiercely frugal, self-reliant, and independent, he nevertheless gave generously of his time and charity to others, volunteering for Service Corps of Retired Executives, offering tax preparation services, giving blood, and at one point serving as announcer for WCPE classical music radio station. A devoted and loving husband, father, and grandfather, he is survived by his wife, son Jon and daughter-in-law Ashley, of Southbury, Connecticut, and son Ian and daughter-in-law Anne, of Greensboro, North Carolina, and five grandchildren, Katherine, Flint, Ella, Oscar, and Wilhelmina. A memorial service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to WCPE, the Classical Station, in memory of David.