David Laird

David Laird passed away on May 11, 2023, in the presence of family and friends from the complications of living with Type I diabetes for over fifty years. David attended Gilson Brown Elementary, North Junior High, and Alton High School where he was a National Merit Scholar. He graduated from Grinnell College with a BA in Mathematics and received a BS in Electrical Engineering from Washington University. He then moved to Silicon Valley to start his engineering career. 

The majority of his career was as a test engineer. His favorite gig was at Silicon Graphics, where he was able to combine his love of drawing, painting and cartooning with his engineering expertise as part of the team that created the Indigo and Indigo 2 workstations, which had unparalleled 3D graphics capabilities. His career took him to the East Coast, West Coast, Japan, and places in between. 

David was an artist at heart, with an appreciation for art of all types – from film to poetry. He loved painting, music, and restoring antique bicycles. He played viola, piano, and guitar, and had a wonderful baritone voice. He was a great ballroom dancer and expansive music lover. David also had impeccable taste in movies. He loved watching and discussing everything cinema.

Above all, David would consider his children, whom he loved dearly, as his most significant achievement. He was a master of “Dad jokes”, with a quick wit and a pun for every situation. David will be remembered as a kind, gentle, intelligent, and humble person. Most of all, he will be remembered as a loving father, wonderful older brother, caring son, and thoughtful friend.

David was preceded in death by his father, Dr. John M Laird, Jr. and his brother, Rodney Laird. He is survived by his two children, Nicolette Laird and Lucas Laird; his mother Carol Laird of Godfrey, IL; his siblings – Christy Laird Staats (Fritz) of Portland, OR, Andy Laird (Maureen Cyr) of Seattle, WA; and his half-siblings John (Stacey), Jim (Ozge), Joe, Jenn Horton (Steve), and Jared (Dianne). An aunt, Marcia Lucietta of Bay Village, OH, his lady friend, Diane Muehlenbeck of St Louis, MO, and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and family friends also remain.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Smile Trainhttps://www.smiletrain.org/, Diabetes Actionhttps://diabetesaction.org/donate, Grinnell Collegehttps://grinnell.edu/, or your favorite charitable organization.

A Celebration of Life is being planned for late summer and will be communicated here at a later date. Gent Funeral Home in Alton is in charge of arrangements. Online guestbook and information may be found at www.gentfuneralhome.com