Former Eastham Select Board member and Town Moderator David Schropfer, Sr. died peacefully in his sleep on Aug. 13, 2024 at Regal Care in Harwich. He was 84.
He had worked tirelessly on the redesign of the intersection of Route 6 and Bracket Road, which, according to Eastham Police Chief Adam Bohannon, led to a reduction in “serious accidents, delays, and inconvenience.”
“That was my dad,” said his son, David Jr. “Understand your job and get it done, whatever the obstacles.”
The son of Frank and Edna Schropfer, David was born on Oct. 27, 1939 in Plainfield, N.J. He was into cars, trucks, and trains, and when he was eight, a truck got wedged under an overpass near his house. The driver and his assistant walked around the truck scratching their heads.
“Why don’t you take some air out of the tires,” David told them, and they did. A problem solver all his life, David “never missed an opportunity to teach,” said his daughter Suzanne.
He graduated from Plainfield High School in 1957 and went on to New York University, where he met Gloria Weaver at a fraternity party. They graduated in 1961 and were married in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1963.
David began a long career in advertising in Cincinnati with Procter & Gamble. He moved to New York City, and his career as a Madison Avenue executive took off. One of his earliest successes was the Wella Balsam shampoo and conditioner campaign featuring “Charlie’s Angels” in 1970.
David worked with Rosemary Clooney on the Coronet bathroom tissue ad in which she sang, “Extra value is what you get when you buy Coronet.”
He moved to the Beber Silverstein Agency in Miami, where he worked on the controversial “See It Like a Native” poster that provoked a mass protest.
The family began vacationing on the Cape in 1975, first in Chatham, then Orleans. In 1998, they bought a small summer home in Eastham. As David made the transition to retirement, he devoted himself to serving the town.
He served on the select board from 2006 to 2009 and as moderator from 2011 to 2014; he represented Eastham on the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority from 2015 to 2020; and he served as Eastham’s representative on the Barnstable County Human Rights Commission.
He was “one of the backbones of the Outer Cape Democrats,” said Robin Hubbard. His death, wrote Kristina Meservey in an online tribute, is “a massive loss for our Democratic Town Committee and town.”
As a father and grandfather, he was always present with a kind word and a listening ear, said family members.
David is survived by his wife, Gloria Weaver Schropfer of Eastham; three children: daughter Suzanne Schropfer-Stratton and wife Lani Stratton and their children, Sammy and Mikey, of Bangor, Maine; son David Schropfer Jr. and wife Colleen and their daughters, Hayley and Chloe, of Bearsville, N.Y.; and daughter Kathleen Grevers and husband Ted and their children, Ella, Teddy, and Garon, of Milford.
The funeral was held on Aug. 17 at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Harwich. Burial in Evergreen Cemetery in Eastham followed.
For online condolences, visit nickersonfunerals.com.
