I am very sad to relay the following message from Steve Bible, N7HPR. Dave was a close personal friend of mine for many years. We fought the battle of the early days of trying to build the HF Packet Radio network on 14.103.
He was always a friend of AMSAT, giving up personal vacations to help with the integration of AO-40 in Orlando. For many years, he was the glue that held TAPR together.
The following information was supplied by Steve Bible, N7HPR:
It is with great sadness that we report the passing of friend Dave Toth on February 26, 2010. Dave was President Emeritus of TAPR and also served as its President (2005-2009) and as a member of its Board of Directors (1987-1993 and 2004-2010). VE3GYQ will be best remembered for his dry sense of humor and his efforts to make TAPR's participation in the HPSDR project a resounding success.
Dave's Obituary reads:
Dr. David Bradley Toth, 55, died at 3:10 p.m. Feb. 26, 2010, at his residence.
He was born Aug. 11, 1954, in Windsor, Ontario, to Thomas S. and Magda M. Kachler Toth. His mother survives in Windsor. On June 16, 2009, he married Ronda S. Nartker, who survives in Spencerville.
Dr. Toth graduated from the University of Western Ontario Medical School in 1978. He practiced family medicine in London, Ontario. He moved to the U.S. in 1993 and began a career in emergency medicine. He was a partner of Premier Health Care Services, in Dayton, and worked at Lima Memorial Health System and St. Rita’s Medical Center until the time of his illness. He was a member of the American College of Emergency Physicians, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. He was board certified in Family Medicine of Canada. He was president of the Regional Physician Advisory Board of EMS and was also the medical director of Ada, Bath and Spencerville EMS.
He was a private pilot for 30 years. He loved to go to the Allen County Airport and fly his Twin Comanche as much as possible. He was a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, EAA and the Comanche Flyers. Besides flying, he was an amateur astronomer. Since he was a young boy in school, he enjoyed looking at the night sky and reading about space and the stars. He had his own observatory that was seen opened up on clear nights. He set up the London, Ontario, Astronomy Club and served as its president. He was also a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and belonged to the Lima, Dayton and Columbus Astronomy Clubs. He traveled for NASA to Chile and Australia to fix telescope problems. He worked closely with Software Bisque to make computer programs to operate telescopes. You could catch him planning trips to Starfest and the Winter Star Party yearly.
He was also a HAM radio operator since the 1970s. He would talk for hours with his call sign VE3GYQ. He set up the London, Ontario, towers. He was the Tucson Amateur Packet Radio president from 2004 to 2009. In his spare time, he enjoyed a round or two of golf with partners or for fundraisers. He also enjoyed hitting the slopes if possible to ski.
Survivors also include two sons, Michael Toth, of Bowling Green, and Christopher Toth, of London, Ontario; a daughter, Caitlin Toth, of Montreal; a stepson, Rusty Nartker, of Spencerville; two brothers, Brian (Susan) Toth, of London, Ontario, and Darryl (Helena) Toth, of Lakeshore, Ontario; two sisters, Stephanie (Frank) Capizzi, of Shelby Township, Mich., and Sondra (Dana) Woltz, of Windsor, Ontario; an aunt, Apollonia “Loni” Noll of Windsor, Ontario; and numerous nephews and nieces.
Services will begin at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Charles Catholic Church. Father Stephen Blum will officiate. Burial of the cremated remains will be at a later date.
Friends may call from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday and 1 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Shawnee Chapel of Chiles-Laman Funeral Homes, where a parish wake service will begin at 8 p.m. Tuesday.