David Madison Champe, 87, of Morgantown and Ebensburg, Pa., died Feb. 4, 2020, at J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown.
He was born in Spencer, W.Va., on June 10, 1932, to Lundy and Mary Pauline (Ferrell) Champe and grew up on his family farm with two younger siblings, Janet and Franklin. He graduated from Nicholas County High School, in Summersville in 1950, where he was a member of National Honor Society and president of Thespians.
He was a 1955 graduate of WVU with a BS in agriculture and 30 hours of graduate work toward a master’s degree in 1956. While at WVU, he was a member of student government, president of Sphinx, Senior Men’s Honorary and Mountain Men’s Honorary. He was employed as a manager at the Mountainlair student union while at WVU. His first job was as a vocational agriculture teacher in Boone County from 1956-57.
David had a long and extremely successful career in the insurance industry. He was employed with The Travelers Insurance Company in Charleston from 1957-58 as a field supervisor. From 1958-66, he was the agency manager for Travelers in Pittsburgh. In 1966, he relocated to Chicago, Ill., and was regional sales manager with The Zurich Insurance Company. In 1971-72 he was employed by CNA Insurance Companies as agency manager. David relocated to Pittsburgh in 1972 with The Security Group as a branch manager until 1977. He relocated again to Ebensburg, Pa., in 1977 as sales manager with the Bituminous Insurance Agency.
In 1980, David started his own business at Evergreen Insurance Associates Inc., Independent Insurance Agency in Ebensburg, where he remained founder and chairman, until his retirement in 2001.
He ran his company based on the same principles that he possessed: Integrity, honesty, service to others, efficiency and attention to detail, generosity, common sense and the ever-present optimism and sense of humor. He was beloved and respected by his colleagues, employees and clients in the industry, many of whom became lifelong friends. He received multiple honors and awards over the course of his career and was most proud of the Distinguished Service Award presented by the Insurance Club of Pittsburgh Inc.
He was active in his community in Ebensburg as a member of Rotary, board member of Lloyd Cemetery, contributor to Boy Scouts of America and Jaffa Shrine annual drive for Crippled Children’s Hospital.
David Champe was a man of faith and was a long-time member of the Ebensburg United Methodist Church. He loved a good game of golf, an ornery joke, scratch-off lottery tickets and a quality scotch. He was an avid fan of WVU sports and a long-time season ticket holder to Mountaineer football games, which he attended with his family. He delighted in driving his RV to the green lot for tailgating on game days.
He loved his family dearly and will be greatly missed by those left behind.
He is survived by his wife of 25 years, Barbara (Amick) Champe; son, David Wells Champe (Debby); grandson, David James Champe (Lauren); stepson, Jeff Amick (Kim) and grandchildren, Ryan (Melissa) Amick, Jason (Stephanie) Amick and Camdynne (Kyle) Moore; daughter-in-law, Wanda Amick and grandchildren, Taylor (Brianna) Amick and Matt Amick; and grandson, Ben Lauffer (Maggie). He is also survived by his sister, Janet Champe Fitzwater and family; sister-in-law, Jean Foster and family; sister-in-law, Wilma Champe and family.
He is also survived by his great-grandchildren Kaylen, Asher, Chase, Easton, Avie, Kennon, Corra Lee, Owen and Jonathan and many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his first wife, Joan (Wells) Champe; his brother, Franklin Champe; stepson, Mark Amick; and brother-in-law, Dennis Foster.
The viewing will be held at Askew- Houser Funeral Home, 300 N. Julian St., Ebensburg, PA 15931, from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14. The funeral service will be held at Ebensburg United Methodist Church, 100 E. Highland Ave., Ebensburg, PA 15931, at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 15.
Interment to follow at Lloyd Cemetery, Ebensburg, Pa.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of David Madison Champe to WVU Foundation, Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design or Pride Travel Fund (https://give.wvu.
edu/) or to Shriners Hospitals (www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org).
