David W. Griffiths, a clinical psychologist, was for many years an instructor at Harvard Medical School; he was well known in the Boston area for his decades of professional service and for his service to the LGBTQ community, particularly for being on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic. He cared immensely for Provincetown, where he spent his semi-retirement.
David died peacefully on June 11, 2024 at his home in Boston after a short illness. At his death, many who loved him gathered near; his beloved dog, Gio, was next to him. The cause was oral pharyngeal cancer. David was 77.
One of twin sons of Leroy and Florence Griffiths, David was born on May 12, 1947 in Binghamton, N.Y. He grew up in and around Oneida in an industrious, community-centered, and church-minded family; his father owned and operated a well-known bakery in Oneonta.
David and his brother, Danny, were inseparable. While they both played on the high school football team, Danny was the wild child, David the more responsible boy.
Their parents were devout Episcopalians who wanted their boys to be well educated. The twins attended St. Andrews, a small Episcopal school in Tennessee. They graduated in 1965. A year later, Danny was killed in a car accident. He was 19.
David earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University in 1969. For several years thereafter he studied at the former Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge; he completed his doctorate in education at Boston University in 1981. In addition, he earned graduate certificates in the field of group psychotherapy, which became his professional focus.
David did his clinical psychology internship at several Harvard-affiliated hospitals in Boston and Cambridge before going into private practice, becoming a respected Boston South End therapist. He was an active and long-standing member of the Northeast Society of Group Psychotherapy, which he served for a time as treasurer.
At the time of his death, David had been in semi-retirement since 2015, and he spent much of the year at his home in Provincetown, where he was an active member of the community. He cared about the environmental changes that threaten the town and championed causes that aim to preserve and protect the Earth.
He was on the Vestry of St. Mary of the Harbor Episcopal Church and a long-time supporter of the Provincetown Theater and the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. He quietly sponsored immigrants and supported many community causes.
He was an avid photographer and a student of art and design. He created warm, beautiful homes that he lovingly tended and shared with friends and the many dogs and cats in his “pack.”
“He loved gardening,” wrote his friend Patrick Flaherty in an online remembrance, “and created an oasis behind his Provincetown house,” which was a sanctuary designed to nurture and revere the natural world around him.
David was a lover of animals. It was rare to see him in Provincetown without his dogs, walking through town or along the jetty, at Clapps Pond, or at the dog park. He’d often say, “I live a life of service to dogs.”
He also lived a life of service to others. He had a gift for connecting with people, for seeing and respecting them as they were. He was genuinely kind, slow to judge, and quick to forgive. He was also irreverent, curious, playful, and funny.
David is survived by a sister, Susan Louise Griffiths, a nephew, Matthew Cherchio, and a niece, Lori Mele, all of Albany, N.Y.; several former long-time partners, including Kevin Bui of Boston and Stephen Cope of Albany; and friends James Bourgeois, Jeffrey Munger, Rob Whitman, Rory Wadlin and Edward Debortoli.
He was predeceased by his parents and by his brother, Daniel Leroy Griffiths.
On June 14, friends and family returned David to the Earth he cherished in a private service of green burial at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Wellfleet. A memorial service will be held at St. Mary of the Harbor in Provincetown on a date to be announced.
Gifts in David’s honor may be sent to St. Mary of the Harbor Outreach Fund, Provincetown.
