David Balch Mazza

You have been gone for a whole year now, Bro. I miss talking golf and basketball with you. I miss you!

...Sis

Dave was a remarkably gentle man in the VC world and was a sweetheart personally. I am so sorry to have happened upon this news. God Bless dear Dave.
Debbie Lindsay (his exec. Asst)

Dave was an amazing board member at DoSomething.org. He was always available for a phone chat. He was ever cheerful, generous with contacts and ideas. So sad to learn of his passing.

I just learned of this sad news...Dave was a good friend for many years, dating back to the Bartholdi, Dromeshauser and Mazza days.... He had exceptional vision and an uncanny ability to pull people together on business concepts that were in their infancy. He had a big heart and was always there to lend an ear and provide advice. To me he will always be remembered as a the consummate "Deal Maker" God bless... Will miss you my friend.

Dave was critical in the launch of my firm New Mountain Capital, in his role as adviser and "talent scout" for the CalPERS pension system. Dave always showed exceptional positive energy and concern for the "people side" of the world. He was a great friend to many of us, and will be missed.

Dave would just call me out of the blue to help someone else. The last time we spoke he was trying to raise a fellowship for our HBS Classmate Des Wong at our 45th HBS Reunion. We go way back to the Mazza & Riley days when he help recruit many VCs and CEOs for our growing industry. I was humbled that he always kept me on his bench until I was lucky enough to start my own small PE firm. I was proud to be his friend and always on his call list as many of us were. I was sorry to hear about his health problems - I thought Florida would cure all that - unfortunately not. Nice to read Elizabeth´s comments and the connections we all had back in the days. Many of my fellow vcs encouraged the Kaufmann Foundation to work with Jeff Timmons which they of course were luckily enough to do. It is painful to see our wonderful circle of friends shrink as the days go by

A great guy, a competitor and friend. A real story teller. Always good for a laugh. Rest in peace Mazz.

Mazz,
We had a great run together- from the GF experience all through the addition of Jake to your life, your constant basketball injuries, all those start ups, the VC years, consulting and then you deciding to call Jeff Timmons to tell him to hire me to teach, while you continued wheeling and dealing.
Almost fifty years of friendship, partnership, your strong opinions about people, the ever present speaker phone, getting into situations and finding a way out. Also discussions about cars, dart games, thousands of lunches together, tasteless jokes, gallons of office coffee and the endless Good and Plenty.
I´ll miss those phone calls and that raspy "Riley, it´s Mazz". So many long calls about so much, some of it good and some just "information sharing".
Hope you are at peace and able to breathe easily.
Riley

Goodbye Bro... until we meet again... I hope you are at peace.