David M. Paradies

David Merlin Paradies was born in Aurora, IL to Wilfred and Thais Paradies in September 1946 and left this planet on April 30, 2025. He lived the last forty-five years of his life in his beloved Los Osos, California. Surviving him are his brother, Timothy Paradies (Kathleen) and their daughter Amber; a sister, Kristin Fierman, and her two daughters, Carrie and Alexandra. His parents must have known early on something was very special about him, as his middle name foretold the magic he would work in many fields, including music, software development, artificial intelligence, and finally, environmental science and activism.

Dave connected deeply with his friends. One was Larey Fierman, who later married Dave's sister Kristin. Larey passed in 2023 and we are confident that Larey and Dave are sitting on a beach somewhere talking about their friendship of many years. In his early years David was deeply involved with the music business. In 1965, he hired John Bettis, a future Hall of Fame songwriter, for his first professional performing job at the Cosmos Folk Club, thus beginning a twenty-year partnership. During their time together, songs written by John were recorded by The Carpenters, The Pointer Sisters, Michael Jackson and many, many others. John has always attributed his long-term success to those early years in partnership with David. "In the important ways, it couldn't have been done without him. We worked as a single unit doing everything." Many lasting copyrights were created during those years.

Dave later applied his brilliant mind to early development of computer software and graphic design, artificial intelligence and robotics. He worked with Apple Computers, General Motors, Lucas Films, and others. But his life in Los Osos awakened in him an abiding passion for Morro Bay and its beautiful watershed, and he started yet another chapter as a fierce advocate for the Bay. Dave worked with his close friend and colleague Karen Worcester to get Morro Bay into the National Estuary Program and served as its first Executive Director. That program, through the Bay Foundation of Morro Bay, has since brought millions of dollars of restoration funding into the watershed. He later developed truly original software to provide in-depth data visualizations for the Central Coast Ambient Monitoring Program, a water quality monitoring program Karen developed and managed for many years at the Central Coast Water Board. With Dave and long-time colleague Mary Hamilton, they made a formidable team.

Dave applied himself completely wherever his interests took him, and his interests took him many many places. On top of his brilliance, he was fearless and dedicated and worked tirelessly for "the cause". He and his many contributions will be greatly missed.