David Joseph Morena passed away of cancer at his Castellammare home on January 7. He was 77 years old.
David was born on July 10, 1945, to Italian immigrants, Joseph and Lena, in San Francisco. He moved to Santa Monica in the 1980’s where he raised his two sons.
David received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics at the University of Santa Clara in 1967 and a master’s degree of Business Administration from Loyola Marymount University in 1993.
He worked as a human resource director for major companies throughout his business career. He was commended for setting up good health insurance, pension funds, and severance packages for the employees, always working in their best interests.
He met his wife, Kim, while she was doing field work for UCLA. She was assigned to meet with human resource directors to encourage them to use Family Services of Santa Monica counseling for employees. David gave her the contract and they began dating.
The couple married in 1996 and moved to Pacific Palisades 24 years ago.
David’s first and foremost love of his life was his family, and he was devoted to them. He never turned down a chance to attend any of his children’s or grandchildren’s activities and always made himself available to babysit the grandkids. While very ill in the hospital a doctor asked him if he had any hobbies and he said, “My grandchildren.”
David was a faithful Catholic and lived his life in service to others. Along with Kim, he helped co-found the Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness (PPTFH).
Ever since PPTFH began conducting the Point in Time Homeless Count, David and Kim served as site coordinators. He was the president of the Castellammare Homeowners Association and served on their Architectural Committee for years.
He is deeply missed by his family whom he loved so well, and by his community, which he dutifully served. He is survived by his wife of 26 years, Kim Clary; his two sons Brian (Veronica) and Greg (Yunnie); his daughter Kathryn; his stepson Todd Clary (Krystina) and 10 grandchildren. He is predeceased by his parents and a sister, Mary Ann, who died of multiple sclerosis, a few years ago.
Funeral services will be held on Saturday, February 11, at 11 a.m. at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in the Palisades. Reception to follow. Please email Kim at kimjdave@msn.com for details if you wish to attend the reception. If you wish to make a donation in David’s name, please consider PPTFH (PPTFH.org) or The California Wildlife Center in Malibu.
David was a wonderful man and a devoted Volunteer.
We at PPTFH will miss him deeply.
David, my brother-in-law, was one of the most patient people I have ever known.
His first love was his family, but Dave’s love also extended to my grandchildren. He was the grandfather to them that they never had. I am so thankful for his love.
Dave was an incredible man and I am so lucky to have had him in my life. I will miss him dearly.
will always remember my cousin David as a kind and gentle person. Although we hadn’t seen each other much since he set up life in SoCal, we still found time to stay in touch and share some of life’s joy’s and sorrows together as members of our very loving and close knit family. David was indeed a blessed part of “la famiglia Morena” which I feel so blessed to be a part of myself. I will miss David very much, as prior to his illness we were starting to correspond more than we ever had before. Seems like we had many things in common that only came out through our recent conversations. There was a lot of, “really…..I didn’t know that” from both of us going on. After my last and oldest brother passed away, I said to David in a phone call one day that “You know that you are my big brother now,” to which he replied, “Ok”. That, to me, was David in a nutshell; always making himself available to fill a need…….if needed. Anyway, thank you David for just being who you were. And what you were……….was a blessing to us all. I will truly miss you big brother.
Dave was our neighbor for 26 years. He was always happily willing to help us out in any way that he could when we needed him. As we all know, there is never a guarantee with neighbors and my husband and I always said that we hit the neighbor jackpot with Kim and Dave. He had such a strong and hopeful attitude even when he got sick. He and Kim did so much for the neighborhood and we will always be grateful for this.