David Oliphant

David Oliphant
July 23, 1935 – January 5, 2026
It is with heavy hearts the family of David Oliphant announces his passing. Dave was a force of nature, a generous, thoughtful loving human being who loved life, embracing every day with joy and positivity. Dave was a gifted athlete, and a highly accomplished entrepreneur who above all loved his family.
Born and raised in the Bronx, Dave was the son of Claire and Morris Oliphant and loving big brother to sweet Esther, husband and loving life partner to Deborah for more than 40 years, proud father to Laura Hebler (Curt), Jeff (Claudia), Perry (Rosaria) and daughter-in-law Erika Muik, five grandchildren, Blake, Taylor (Ethan), Aubri (Cameron), Eli, and Jacob, and three great-grandchildren, Payton, Quinn and Ginger.
Upon graduating from Morris High School in the Bronx, Dave signed an MLB contract and spent the next six years playing professional baseball, first within the New York Yankees organization, then with the Brooklyn/LA Dodgers.
Dave graduated from Curry College as class president, with both a BA and MBA. He was an American History teacher, and a baseball and basketball coach.
Dave had a long, enthusiastic career into the world of publishing, co-founding EDC, an educational distribution company, initiating school book fairs becoming the one-source book distributor throughout the United States. He was also head consultant to American Education Publications creating nine successful book clubs launching them all in a year.
Dave founded and was President of an educational children's publishing company, Pendulum Press, under the parent company of Academic Industries, Inc. Under this banner, he created the Illustrated Classics, an extensive and impressive library while acting as head consultant to the Chairman/Founder of Simon & Schuster identifying exciting new manuscripts leading to New York Times bestsellers such as the acclaimed A Child's Garden of Grass.
Dave's next career with Deb was an amazing 30+year journey with QVC, Inc. that honored him as President of its first QVC joint venture, Health Ventures Partners where he pioneered numerous innovative concepts with many successful brands,
Dave's proudest accomplishment was that of volunteer President of Connecticut's Fairfield County Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (Blood Cancer United) while serving on its Board of Trustees for over 30 years. He was honored at a White House reception by First Lady Rosalyn Carter for his many dedicated fundraising years.
Our loving Dave will live on in our hearts for all time. All he wanted in life was to be with family and friends surrounded by love.
A special thank you to all of Dave's wonderful caregivers, including the amazing staff at Griffin Hospital and Milford Health & Rehabilitation Center.
Visitation: 10:00 a.m. Funeral Service: 11:00 a.m. January 9, 2026 at Abraham L. Green & Son Funeral Home, 88 Beach Road, Fairfield, CT 06824.
In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made to: www.bloodcancerunited.org.
For a full obituary celebrating Dave's life, please visit www.greensfuneralhome.com,