David W. Greene

David William Clay Greene, age 84 of Shaker Heights, OH, died peacefully at Hospice of the Western Reserve on December 16, 2025, surrounded by his family. Beloved husband of Evelyn for 42 years; devoted father of Byron (Delia), Anthony (Charlene), Michael, and Margaret (Mark Dalman); loving brother of Susann Matarese; proud grandfather of William, Tony, Sophie, and Harper; doting uncle of Laura Pope. Beloved stepson and son of the late William and Nadine Slawson of Port Charlotte, FL.

David was born and raised in Kansas City, KS, he attended Kansas State University and joined the U.S. Air Force in 1963. He served in Vietnam from 1965 to 1967, holding a top secret clearance in cryptography. His mechanical and electrical aptitude led to his later career selling large machine tools to factories in the U.S. and Puerto Rico for a variety of U.S. manufacturers. Before retiring, he represented Lucas Machine, at the time one of Cleveland’s premier manufacturers of industrial machinery.

Dave was a lifelong reader of nonfiction who loved learning. While he never stopped reading history and biographies, his interests mirrored his curiosity at any given time, from the latest scientific discoveries to archaeology, anthropology, and etymology. His and Evelyn’s love of books led to their discovery of the Shaker Heights Public Library’s large semiannual used book sales. Starting as customers, then book sale volunteers, they later served on the board of the Friends of the Shaker Library for ten years.

Dave found his calling as book sale chairman for many of those years and his service to the library was publicly recognized by the Board when he retired from that position in 2018.

He discovered YouTube later in life and enjoyed watching people, for example, assemble Swiss watches, weld steel components, repair classic cars, apply home weatherstripping, or dance the tango. He also liked listening to music on YouTube, particularly Portuguese fado and 1950’s jazz, the latter being his favorite music since he was a teenager.

Dave’s greatest pleasure was exploring new places with his family, including Europe, as well as Canada and a number of U.S. cities and towns. When Dave and Evelyn were first married, Dave proposed they take turns surprising the other with a mystery Labor Day weekend every year to celebrate their anniversary. On his first turn, with everything well planned, he drove them to Corning, NY.

David was a wonderful son, husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, brother-in-law, father-in-law, and friend, who was greatly loved and who will be greatly missed. He was inherently kind and, being a gentleman in the true sense of the word, was never intentionally rude to anyone, ever. He saw no point in holding a grudge, just accepting people for wherever they were coming from that day. He loved hearing and telling a good joke and he truly enjoyed talking with all kinds of people, especially cab drivers in foreign countries.

Donations in David’s memory may be made to two charities he particularly cared about: the Sanctuary for Senior Dogs http://www.sanctuaryforseniordogs.org and the Greater Cleveland Food Bank https://www.greaterclevelandfoodbank.org

A memorial service to celebrate David’s life will be held on Saturday, February 7, 2026, at Brown-Forward Funeral Home, 17022 Chagrin Blvd., Shaker Heights, OH 44120 at 11:00 a.m.

LUNCHEON AFTER THE SERVICE (12:00-1:30 PM)

All friends and family members planning to attend David's service are invited to stay afterwards for an informal luncheon. Please let us know under "Family & Friends Luncheon" (under Dave's picture above) if you will be staying for lunch, to help with our planning.  (skip this if you are unable to stay for lunch). Please contact Brown-Forward Funeral Home by February 2nd if your lunch plans should change: 216-752-1200.