David Gibson of Gibson’s Bakery has passed away
One of the owners of Gibson’s Bakery and a named plaintiff in the lawsuit against Oberlin College, David passed away at home early this morning surrounded by family after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
David Gibson, one of the owners of Gibson’s Bakery and a named plaintiff in the lawsuit against Oberlin College, has passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He passed away early this morning at home surrounded by his family.
After the verdict, David said that he hoped that the bakery could keep the lights on for another generation.
In early August 2019, David released a video announcing his condition, David Gibson VIDEO: Oberlin College plans to drag out litigation because it knows I’m dying from pancreatic cancer:
Hello, I’m Dave Gibson of Gibson’s Bakery and Candy. I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who’s reached out to our family after the recent verdict in our lawsuit against Oberlin College.
I’ve been amazed at the kind words of encouragement we’ve received from all over the world, including the support of so many people right here at home. I know I haven’t been able to respond to all your emails and letters, but please know that your words are greatly appreciated.
It’s very humbling to know that so many people care about my family and our bakery, so I wanted to record this video to express how much your support means to us. You know, part of what we’ve heard is that the impact of this case is not just limited to our town or even Ohio. And while I’ve been shocked at the national attention our trial received, I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise. The fight has always been about sending the message that the truth still matters and doing the right thing, even when it’s difficult, is important. No matter who you are or where you live.
As you may know, the president of Oberlin college has recently indicated from their perspective, the jury verdict is just the first round of what will be a long and difficult battle. It’s become clear that the fight’s not over. With that in mind, I’ve decided it’s time to share some news my family has attempted to keep private until now.
As we’ve been going through this legal battle, I’ve been going through another personal battle. Late last year I was diagnosed with the devastating news that I have pancreatic cancer. Once the next round of my treatments begin, I know this will be impossible to hide any longer, so I wanted you to hear it from me.
Oberlin College has known about my health condition since February. Their legal team filed a motion to prevent any mention of my cancer diagnosis at the trial and honestly, we agreed because I wanted the jury to decide this case on the facts alone. Nothing else.
As you know, the jury sent a clear message that the truth still matters in this country. But recent public statements from Oberlin College make it clear that the college is refusing to accept the jury’s decision. The college has stated that the verdict is just the beginning of a long legal process. I believe they’re sending a clear message to me and to my 91-year-old dad that they will just wait us out.
But, I’ll do everything I can to make sure I see this through. And even if I’m not able to see the end of this battle, our family has committed to continue serving the Oberlin community just as we have for the past 134 years. So while this journey has been difficult in many ways, I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for your messages. Thank you for all of your support. Thank you to those members of the Oberlin college community who aren’t afraid of saying or doing the right thing. Thank you to the jurors who sacrificed their time. Thank you to the American justice system that enables a David to stand up to a Goliath. And most importantly, thank you for your prayers.
(if video does not load, click here)
David was recently interviewed as part of Ted Koppel’s recent segment about the case. The segmented by noted that David may not live to see a final result:
Our thoughts go out to the Gibson family.
[David Gibson hugs grandson after punitive damages verdict][Photo credit Bob Perkoski for Legal Insurrection Foundation]
[David Gibson and Allyn W. Gibson at trial][Photo credit Bob Perkoski for Legal Insurrection Foundation]
[Allyn D. Gibson — second from left –after jury compensatory verdict][Photo credit: Legal Insurrection Foundation]
UPDATE:
You can read the obituary and leave condolences here.
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Rest in peace, sir.
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” / Bernstein · London Symphony Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdc5n562zZg
Dean Meredith Raimondo and Oberlin College and Conservatory live on in perfidy to create yet another generation of Socialist warriors.
The left is great at making sociopathic killers out of young people, witness the Red Guard (100 million murdered), Pol Bot’s kids (3 million Cambodians murdered), Stalin’s wonderful young people (60 million murdered), etc.
The Hitler Youth paled by comparison.
The left has been in charge of our educational systems for over 2 generations now. They’re doing a great job of poisoning the minds of our young, turning them into the types of people like the young tumors at Oberlin.
Whoops: forgot Mr. College Kid T-Shirt himself, mass murdering communist Che Guevara.
Useful idiot Carlos Santana showing off his Che t-shirt:
https://www.google.com/search?q=carlos+santana,+che+shirt&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwix2vSjlvDlAhUYip4KHTbOB00Q_AUIEigC&biw=1280&bih=860#imgrc=GQmIDamrCOoxRM:
May perpetual light shine upon him. May his family be comforted
My condolences to the Gibson family. I will continue to do what I can for the Gibson’s by getting the truth out on https://Oberlinchaos.com.
/s/ JD Nobody, OC ’61
Great Idea for a web site.
David Gibson could claim the same words as Bear Bryant.
Bear Bryant: “Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself.”
Bear Bryant: “I ain’t nothing but a winner.”
Bear Bryant: “Never be too proud to get down on your knees and pray.”
https://www.successories.com/iquote/author/3347/bear-bryant-quotes/1
Be sure to let us know when Oberlin, long time neighbor and customer of the family expresses their sympathies to the Gibson’s.
I am not holding my breath on that one. After announcing Dave Gibson’s cancer diagnosis, condolences were extended to the Gibson’s under the signature of a college PR lackey on behalf of the college President.
When I confronted her on why the message did not go out under her signature, she dismissively explained that her PR lackeys regularly issue public statements on her behalf!
As soon as Oberlin found out David Gibson was dying of cancer, they immediately had their attorneys go to court to block any mention of his disease.
What a callous act.
As for the attorneys, they should be ashamed of themselves. I am an attorney and not a week goes by where I don’t have to tell clients I won’t do something they want – because what they want is wrong. I guaranty that these high-class lawyers belong to various liberal groups and brag about all they do for the needy etc. and how much better they are than the rest of us.
A no class college hires no class attorneys. And the Gibson family suffers.
Guarantee and guaranty refer to written agreements. GUARANTEE can refer to the agreement itself as a NOUN, and the act of making the agreement as a VERN. GUARANTY is a specific type of guarantee that IS ONLY USED AS A NOUN. Guarantees are everywhere, so the shared E between those words is the clue you need to remember that guarantee is applicable to most situations, while guaranty is very specific in scope.
God bless this man and his family, RIP, good sir.
At least he got to see the day he won. RIP.
I can only wonder how much this struggle shortened his life.
Sad.
I am saddened to hear this news. I had hoped he would at least live long enough to see final victory over Oberlin.
RIP, Mr. David Gibson.
I normally don’t get this emotional about people I’ve never personally met. But Oberlin College has behaved so monstrously toward this family.
Also dog of 14 and 1/2 years died last night. Some dogs just name themselves; he was Romeo, the sweetest dog you ever met. He got violently ill during the early hours of this morning so I planned to take him into the vet this morning. But when I woke up he was gone. I never expected that. Now I’m kicking myself for not taking him into see the 24 hour emergency vet. If I burn in hell it will probably be for letting my dog down.
So when I read this news I was already deeply sad. Now I’m even sadder. I loved my dog, but obviously losing Romeo doesn’t compare to this tragedy. People are made image of God and animals are not.
I hope I don’t come across as callous, but will David Gibson’s passing have any impact on the outcome of this suit. It seemed to me the Oberlin College administration was just hoping to wait out the Gibsons in the hope that if some of the named plaintiffs died before the case was resolved they could get the award reduced on appeal, or maybe even get a do-over. I’m no lawyer, but I don’t believe that’s possible because the award should go to David Gibson’s estate, right?
What are the odds an appeals court would recognize just how vicious the people running Oberlin College are, and up the award to inflict the pain on them that they’ve attempted to inflict on the Gibson family?
I am so sorry about your dog. Had you taken him to the 24/hr center, it is VERY possible he still may have passed, with the experience being far more traumatic than what he experienced remaining with you at home. He was a very old dog and it was his time. No offense to vets or hospitals, but being at home is a good way to go.
Don’t beat yourself up for not taking your dog into the Vet, likely as not he had a stroke and nothing you did-or didn’t do-contributed to his death. He passed away at home, probably in his sleep, which is where he would have wanted to be.
I’ve been very close to my many dogs over my lifetime and it always hurts badly to lose one. But I enjoyed them all when they were around as my buds. Take care.
Thank you for the kind words, elle, Alexander. I should add I had a practical reason for waiting until morning to take him to see my own vet. Romeo was having real trouble getting up onto the couch; he’s been having some trouble for a while. I need both hips replaced and I’m using a walker. I didn’t know how I was going to get him into the cab of my truck by myself. But for $75 my vet will send someon out to pick up the dog and take them in. Then I’d follow in my own vehicle.
I’m not hijacking the thread, I swear.
Since they knew the dog was beyond help it took them about an hour to come get the dog as the cremation service doesn’t make house calls. So I’m looking at my dog laying there and all these memories were flooding in. My Romeo never learned to chase a ball. When he was a puppy I had a Springer Spaniel, Becky. She loved to play fetch. I’d throw a tennis ball, and they’d both go chasing after it. I thought. After she passed at 17 and it was just the two of us I’d throw the tennis ball he’d just sit there and stare at me, and then the ball bouncing away, then back at me as if to say, “Whet the hell is that thing? I’m supposed to do something with it?” He had never chased the ball; he was always chasing her.
After looking at my dog all morning remembering all the years we spent together the vet technicians arrived and took him away. So I decided to surf the web, to try to get my mind off of things. And the first thing I come across is this. I let out an audible groan.
Talk about not getting my mind off things. I’ve followed the shocking case of Oberlin College’s vicious treatment of the Gibson family as closely as possible. I’ve read every post. Oberlin could have settled everything with a public apology and a statement saying the Gibsons are not racists. But you could see how things were going to go. The college acted like they were entirely right all along; they refused to admit any error even when it would have saved them millions when the court found them in grievous error. Talk about high handed.
The only family I would have been happier to see get a multi-million dollar settlement from a pack of villains than the Gibsons would have been…mine.
I really had hoped that David and his nonagenarian father would live to see Carmen Twillie Ambar, Meredith Raimondo, and the rest of those pirates smacked down, humbled, and left with no recourse but to pay up.
On a normal morning I would have been saddened, and angered at Oberlin College, to read this news about David Gibson. But now it was a double blow. Talk about a horrible morning.
Obviously I’m still rooting for the elder Gibson to live to see the day when OC is finally and totally humiliated and forcibly separated from however many tens of millions of dollars they owe in the end.
I can completely relate to your experiences with the loss of a dog. Unless you have gone through losing a dog, any effort to explain it falls on deaf ears.
There is much that Ambar and Raimondo could learn from the best of the dog world. Too bad that their canine role models seem to be the worst of the species.
Rest In Peace, Mr. Gibson. You left this world too soon, but inspired many Legal Insurrection readers with your courage and endurance. I will pray for your family – and for justice.
“…People are made image of God and animals are not.”
I have serious doubts this is true for Carmen Twillie Ambar, Meredith Raimondo, and whoever else was/is behind this atrocity.
The “image of God” is the capacity for intuition, reason, perception and free will, emotions that result and flow from those rational faculties, and speech to express those emotions. All normal human beings have that image, whether they use it for good or ill.
The administatotors of Oberlin College have demonstrated no aptitude for intuition, reason, and perception. Their disastrous choices in mounting their defense practically drove the jury to award the Gibsons an epic award. Had they had the ability to intuit or perceive they wouldn’t have made those choices. Had they the ability to reason they would have learned a lesson from that verdict that went against them and the resultant multi-million dollar award.
But here they are pressing on, still basing their defense on lies (this isn’t a first amendment case nor are they being punished for the speech and actions of their students) as well as their arrogant position that the jurors were idiots. Had the jurors been as smart as they are, the verdict would have gone their way. But you can’t expect the hicks from small town Ohio to be as smart as their intellectual and moral superiors in leftist, woke academia.
Hence my doubts about whether they were created in the image of God, since they lack most of the abilities that you list.
“All normal human beings have that image…”
Concur. These are apparently quite abnormal human beings, however.
My tribute to Dave Gibson is continuing the fight to get the disconnected, sociopathic rodents on the OC Board of Trustees to show that they have enough humanity to back off and make peace.
/s/ JD Nobody, OC ’61
Actually, Milhouse, I don’t disagree with anything that you wrote about what it means to be created in the image of God.
But based upon admittedly what are few data points, such as Carmen Ambar’s interview with Ted Koppel, they reject the possibility of a creator. Therefore there is no image of God to be created in.
And they certainly have acted and continue to act exactly like I’d expect someone who rejects the whole concept of an “image of God.”
Don’t forget Soros.
David was a class act adjacent to Oberlin’s truly “classless” world.
Rest In Peace, Mr. Gibson. You beat them while you were still here!
Oberlin College shows the results from Political Correctness and Affirmative Action taken to it’s natural end.
May Mr Gibson find comfort in the arms of Angels…
Rest in peace Mr. Gibson. May your family know peace from this legal battle in the next couple years as well.
Rest in peace Mr. Gibson. Prayers for his eternal spirit and the comfort of his family are on their way.
I just lost a great friend to pancreatic cancer a few weeks back. Artist, animator, writer, and fine nan, as was Mr. Gibson.
My condolences to the Gibson’s, and to all the gang here who have been encouraging and supporting the Gibson’s.
https://www.gibsonsbakeryandcandy.com
Suggestion: place an order, make a donation and send Oberlin a memo saying it’s in honor of Gibson’s and in memory of David.
Rest in peace. What an honorable man and family.
Oberlin has no honor.
Thanks for reminding me they do take online orders. Yesterday, two boxes of dark chocolate covered honey roasted cashews arrived from Gibson’s. One for me, and one for the employees at a favorite client’s business. I made sure they had the web address for anyone who wants to place their own order.
How awful that Mr. Gibson’s last months on earth were occupied by this case and by the stigma of being labeled a racist.
There’s a special place in hell for the people who are responsible for this.
My condolences to the Gibsons.
I am glad that he got to hear the jury verdict.
I went to college at Ohio Wesleyan University with David Gibson and never knew him to be anything other than a kind, caring, generous person. We lived in the same dorm and we ate at the same table nearly every evening; his cousin, Judy Gibson also lived in the same dorm and we played on the volleyball team together and are classmates as well. Dave was younger than us by a year and we had lots of fun with him. He was gregarious, smart and funny and definitely made life a lot more interesting wherever he went.
My husband — also an OWU grad — and I followed the this lawsuit closely; we live just 25 miles away from Oberlin and have spent lots of time there over the years and always stopped to by bread, cookies or pastries at Gibson’s when we visited. Since the verdict, I have thought many times I should sit down and write Dave a letter expressing both how sorry we were that he and his fine family had to go through all of this and how proud we were that he and his dad stuck to their convictions to prevail in the case. I never did get around to doing that and now I truly regret that I didn’t take the time to do so …
Regrets. Sorrow. An old friend who would go home for the weekend and then return on Sunday evenings with a big box of Gibson’s elephant ears and other treats, to share with his Austin Hall friends. No doubt in my mind that the legal travails and poor treatment by Oberlin College contributed to hasten his illness.
Heaven has gained a sweet soul. Rest in peace, David. You were a warrior when you needed to be.
My condolences to his family and prayers. RIP.
David, many of us here never met you but through the kind people here it feels as if we knew you. Your legacy will live forever. You left this world knowing that you did the right thing and fought until your dying day.
Rest in Peace, Prayers for the family and loved ones.
Rest In Peace, sir.
And may God strengthen the family and give them comfort in this hour of their grief.
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. You’ve inspired us all.
Pancreatic cancer is worst.
R.I.P. David Gibson!
RIP, and may God Bless his family.
Oberlin has been a hotbed of Leftist insanity for decades.
It is not surprising that they have hounded and contributed to Mr. Gibson’s decline in health and untimely passing. Mr. Gibson is quite correct when he said they are hoping to wait the family out. Mr. Gibson’s strength and fortitude in the battle against the evil that is Oberlin has proven them to be paper tigers. May Mr. Gibson rest in peace and he know from the shades that his fight will ultimately be won.
RIP Mr Gibson. May your light shine down from heaven, may your family have fruitful blessings, and may you see the day that your battle ends in victory.
Everyone here in some fashion has offered “thoughts and prayers,” and condolences to the Gibson family. You should all know that people who walk the halls of Oberlein, as well as leftists everywhere, hate the term “thoughts and prayers,” and hate those of us who present this sentiments.
So please don’t think for a moment that any leftists is sadder by this news, and know that wherever this obit is placed, the hate will spew.
This is the battle that the Gibson family has been fighting for so long, and their enemy is legion.
In another unrelated Oberlin College matter
https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/11/even-in-oberlin-in-2019-women-still-cant-wait-for-godot-andrea-simakis.html
They are challenging the Samuel Beckett family.
Rest in peace, Mr. David Gibson. Condolences to his loving family and friends. May the Gibson legacy live on and on.
this is what good men do–even in the face of a debilitating terminal illness, they keep moving forward at best speed until they can’t move any more
bless you sir and may your family ultimately prevail
No obits in the college’s journal yet, but oddly enough there’s a request for the Gibsons to “forget and forgive”.
Shameless.
https://oberlinreview.org/19872/opinions/oberlin-gibsons-should-forgive-and-forget/
The Oberlin Review is a student-run newspaper, and Booker Peek is known as a reasonable man. It is unlikely that his reasonableness will penetrate the closed minds of the rodent-infested Board of Trustees.
Forgiveness without repentance?
Forgiveness without repentance is for a sad group of people intent on being perpetually victimized.
BINGO! Frankly, at this stage I wouldn’t trust any “repentance” from Oberlin farther than I could throw one of their campus buildings. I think that train left the station quite a while ago. But any appeal for “forgiveness” without even the appearance of repentance is utter bullshit.
People who actually read the Bible know that forgiveness is only
— REQUIRED AFTER RESTITUTION —
There is no real repentance / sorrow / regret for an evil done without restitution.
To talk of forgiveness without restitution … unacceptable.
May you rest in peace Mr Gibson knowing that you did everything that you could to clear your good family name. You fought the good fight for all of us.
Something to say here, and I hope it’s useful.
Everyone here including me hopes that the Gibson family will stick it out all the way through. We think they are right as the rain on this. I think it’s a textbook example of defamation and malice, whatever the politics are, and further think that Oberlin’s conduct has been so arrogant, so cruel, so egregiously abusive that it cries out for a full verdict no matter how long that might take.
That’s what I think, and it’s what everyone else here thinks. But we all need to remember that the final decisions on how far to take it, including an undisclosed settlement, are strictly up to the Gibson family.
So if they do happen to settle — and trust me, I hope they do not — everyone here should remember whose call that is to make, and possibly have to accept and respect a family decision that we wouldn’t have preferred them to make.
I want to see David Gibson and the rest of that family fully and publicly vindicated, and Oberlin’s smug, arrogant face get slapped hard. But that’s not my call, nor is it anyone else’s but the family’s.
Sounds reasonable to me.
Believe me, there’s nothing I’d rather see than for Oberlin’s next enrollment fall by 10%, and for alumni contributions to fall by 20%, and by the time the Ohio Supreme Court upholds the judgment with a ringing endorsement and a harsh reprimand to the college, enrollment had fallen by one-third and contributions had been cut in half.
After all, “vindicate” and “vindictive” have the same linguistic root, and it traces back to revenge. “Vengeance is mine,” and if anyone deserves to be served with vengeance, it would be Oberlin College. I dearly want to see them humbled and hobbled, that they might suffer the full consequences of their arrogance.
$36 million for the verdict and attorney’s fees, with maybe another $5 million for the Gibsons appeal costs? You bet, followed by hitting them where it hurts most, in enrollments and contributions. I am not even coming remotely close to wanting to sing “Kumbaya.” Far, far from it.
Still: It’s the Gibsons’ call to make.
I’ve never met Mr. Gibson. But I wish I had. If a picture is worth a thousand words, he was a happy man who was good and fun to be around.
How fitting his name is David! Is this not a man whose faith in God allowed him to bring down a Goliath? Okay, so sue me, but I also looked up Gibson to see what that name meant and what came up was (scroll down) https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Gibson:
“Dictionary Entries near Gibson Gibraltar, Rock of Gibraltar”
Yep. A man of God. There is a party in heaven goin’ on tonight.
My deepest condolences to the Gibson family. The entire situation, just so very sad.
RIP, David. I hope you can see what happens to Oberlin. It should be good.
This end result of Mr. Gibson’s sickness and demise is hard to take, but maybe it’s for the better. Watching and living through this ordeal can’t be good for your health. Stress levels have to be off of the chart and surely contributed to the Cancer’s relentless march through his body. Those who persecuted him knew that and wanted to keep the pain of the case open, where he would NEVER ENJOY the judgement against them.
Maybe having the judgement against Oberlin, but not getting the money is the way our Creator wants it: We were right and we ahave been vindicated by HIS Judgement here on earth, even if we can’t share in the judgement against the persons that tried to ruin us. Money is a tool, but big money usually destroy’s anything and anyone it touches, simply because we can’t fathom what kind of trouble we will choose to “buy into.” if we have the means.
It’s difficult to hear he died before his father, who worried that he’d die and be labelled as a racist: Surely the loss of the son, who fought to protect the family name will crush the older gentleman’s spirit. Pancreatic Cancer is unbelievably painful for the person who has it. At the end, you just want their sufferings to be over.
I expect the late David Gibson is now in the presence of his LORD, hearing “Well done, good and faithful servant,” and returning the words with Thanksgiving and Praise.
As for the college, well, its lawyers cannot no longer conceal that the Plaintiff had Pancreatic Cancer or died from it, after the jury trial and before the appeal. The down side is that Oberlin may get a change of venue for the appeal.
The question is, can we keep the publicity going where every potential juror might know what and how Oberlin College tried to crush a man and destroy his business by the libel of accusing him of racism?
Historically speaking, when God speaks through a person here on earth, He treats the human vessel like it’s a damned rental car in Hawaii.
The Gibson’s didn’t spoil for this fight. They didn’t go looking for it. BUT if ever I encounter the evil they are facing, I hope I have the courage to open 1/10 the can of whoop ass they’ve delivered to Oberlin. Especially under the circumstances.
When God chooses to speak through one of us, He treats the human vessel like a rental car in Hawaii. I KNOW he’s gone to his reward.
I think perhaps more deserved would be can we keep the publicity going where every potential PARENT, STUDENT and DONOR might know what and how Oberlin College tried to crush a man and destroy his business by the libel of accusing him of racism?
We’ve got to keep the heat on. Every day https://oberlinchaos.com is getting a bit better and more complete and is being noticed.
Even barbarians have a better understanding of decency than does the Oberlin College Board of Trustees.
The Gibson family should bring a life-size photo of David to every Oberlin connected event……
To every fundraising event. Get a big thermometer with a goal of $36 million to show the participants where to money is going.
I wore my Gibsons T-shirt to the last fundraiser. And I will be wearing it tomorrow as I do every Wednesday. Got into a conversation last Wednesday with a lawyer who was pretty familiar with the case. This case has always had the hallmarks of a gamechanger, and Oberlin knows that they will lose favored child status.
RIP Mr. Gibson.
Shamefully, Oberlin College uses legal games and endless appeals to avoid paying their ‘Damages’ to the Gibson family. The Ohio Court System need to get off their fanny and expedite this case before any more Gibson family members pass away!
Not to seem improper, but I am actually thinking about his children and grandchildren.
When the judgements are upheld are they paid to his family?
Yes. The cause of action, and Oberlin’s debt, does not go away just because he died.
Professor,
Thank you for leaving this post at the top, for a while. As someone else said above, we are made in the image and likeness of God, and losing one of us is losing God’s image. It is good to take a little time, to notice and to mourn.
David Gibson seemed like a gentleman who was trying to do the best that he could when faced with the social justice warriors.
May the appellate court show the administrators at Oberlin College the same mercy that they showed Gibsons–and may we all live to see it.
You can read the obituary and leave condolences here.
Thanks for this and all that you do.
Just a nit: the photo caption of the last pic, shouldn’t it read 2nd from the right, not left?
This morning the Elyria Chronicle published an obit for David Gibson that documents what a genuinely decent person he was. Its text follows:
David Gibson, Beloved Baker, Husband, Father, and Grandfather, dies at 65. David R. Gibson passed away in his home, surrounded by his adoring family on Saturday, November 16, 2019.
He is survived by his wife, Lorna (Perkins) Gibson; children, Krista, Allyn, and Steven Gibson; beloved grandson, Cashlyn Gibson; father, Allyn W. Gibson; brothers, Donald and Richard Gibson; and many cousins, nieces and nephews, extended family and close friends.
He was preceded in death by his mother, Melba Gibson.
David was masterful at the art and science of baking. He was an artisan of cakes, candies, chocolates, pastries, breads, doughnuts, and a variety of other handmade goods at his 134-year-old family bakery, Gibson’s Bakery of Oberlin. David found his passion in the family business when he returned home after college graduation from Ohio Wesleyan University with a degree in chemistry when he was asked to assist his father, Allyn W. Gibson, in the summer of 1977. He found his baking craft by way of his love for chemistry and art and developed his steady and creative hand while decorating multi-tiered wedding and birthday cakes with airbrushing picture techniques and stylistic details such as working fountains and the delicate art of sugar glace and frosted flowers.
He was an accomplished graduate of Lake Ridge Academy with a Headmasters Award and loved playing an aggressive game of basketball on the high school team. He found great joy in his friendships and spent much of his free time entertaining his family and friends over his grill and an evening bonfire. David was a world traveler, loved nature and boating, golfing with close friends, working with his cherished father, visiting with his brothers and cousins, reading poetry and philosophy, and shooting hoops with his grandson. As soon as Ohio weather was fair enough, he could be found sneaking away with family and friends for a quick trip to his beloved Kelleys Island camping spot. David loved to fish and explore the great outdoors with his wife, Lorna, and dog, Baxter.
He was a hardworking businessman and a dedicated member of the Oberlin community. He served numerous years as Chairman of the Oberlin Planning Commission and member of Lorain County Planning Commission. He deeply cherished his town and relationships and treated customers like family.
The family will receive friends Thursday, November 21, 2019, from 3 to 7 p.m. at The First Church in Oberlin United Church of Christ, 106 N. Main St., Oberlin. The memorial service will be held Friday, November 22, 2019, at 11 a.m. also at The First Church in Oberlin, officiated by Pastor Cousin Brad Mason and The Reverend David Hill.
Instead of flowers, please donate in honor of David Gibson’s life and most recent battle with pancreatic cancer at: https://events.lustgarten.org/davidgibson
Online condolences may be made to http://www.cowlingfuneralhomeoh.com
Thank you for posting this.
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
Isaiah 41:10 (KJV)
Last evening I attended the visiting hours for David Gibson, which were held in Oberlin’s 175+ year-old Meeting House (aka First Church). The racially mixed turnout was the largest I have ever seen for such an event in Oberlin.
Apparently, no one from the College Administration or Board of Trustees showed up. The Gibson family did not want anyone there who would show insincere respect for David Gibson.
The college has made one gesture toward the Gibsons. It has asked college employees not to park in the college parking lot next to the Meeting House during the hours of Dave Gibson’s Memorial Service. That space and more will be needed for the expected crowd.
Thanks for sharing that info. “Racially mixed turnout” appears to tell you all you need to know about the college’s claims. Shame on Oberlin College.
Yesterday I attended Dave Gibson’s Memorial Service. There was a large, racially mixed turnout. Attendees from the College were few, and none were the people who had been slandering the Gibsons.
Members of the Gibson family reported to me that they are enormously grateful for the support that Bill Jacobson and LI have given them. I learned that in David’s last days, the family read him some of the posts on LI. These posts bucked up his spirits in a time of little hope, so those of you who posted on Dave’s behalf can take the credit for a good deed that you did not realize you were doing.
J.D., thank you for sharing that.
It’s good to know he and the family were reading our posts and realizing people care.
I ordered some cookies for my child who can’t make it home for Thanksgiving.
You can’t leave a message via the order site, but I did let them know via a phone call
(you can also leave an email via the baker site: http://www.gibsonsbakeryandcandy.com) that I was doing so in memory of David and in honor of their win over Oberlin.
Show support when you can.
God bless all you good people, and Happy Thanksgiving!
The OC Board of Trustees meets on Dec. 3-4. Please inform them of your displeasure with their arrogant, elitist, and disconnected behavior in perpetuating the Gibson mess. If you have any doubts about the innocence of the Gibsons, take a look at the overwhelmingly damning evidence the Gibson’s introduced against the College in court.
The BOT will not vacate their vendetta against the Gibsons until we thoroughly rub their noses in their folly by mounting nothing less than an Oberlin size protest demonstration!