David Ogden Douglas, whose passionate love of the land, agriculture and all things farming related — including the often temperamental machinery it took to run a farm — inspired him to exchange the New York financial and business world for a seat on a John Deere tractor at his beloved Rainbow Farm in West Tisbury, died March 18 in Ocala, Fla. He was 75.
David was born July 6, 1940, the youngest son of four born to Grace and James Henderson Douglas 2nd in Lake Forest, Ill.
From childhood, David enjoyed summers on Martha’s Vineyard with his family. He attended Middlesex and Harvard University and ultimately made his way back to Martha’s Vineyard.
On the Vineyard in 1962, he met his first wife, Jenifer. Together they raised three daughters and a stepson.
He began his professional career at the New York Stock Exchange and later ran his own architecture business. Both were exciting adventures but not his passion. His passion was farming, which he did for several years in Essex, raising Charolais beef cattle. He conceived a plan to move to the Vineyard, design his own home and become a Vineyard farmer. Being David, that’s what he did. He bought and or leased a total of 90 acres in West Tisbury, carefully developed the property for a beef cattle operation, designed and built new farm buildings, restored worn out ancillary buildings, and when it was ready shifted his Essex farm to the hilly Vineyard property he called Rainbow Farm.
David was a smart farmer and a clever businessman. He raised cattle to serve as breeding stock to other farmers, carefully matching bulls and cows to get the best offspring. He served as president of the American-International Charolais Association during his 35 years raising cattle.
He also raised hay for sale to Island horse owners, feed corn for his cattle, and sweet corn for sale to summer residents, and he worked at it, mowing and baling the hay, and helping to get it into the big barns he built.
When a farm became available in Chilmark near the West Tisbury town line, he sold the West Tisbury Rainbow Farm property and shifted Rainbow Farm (now under new owners and known as Grey Barn Farm) and his growing farming operations from West Tisbury to Chilmark. The house he had built for himself on the South Road when he moved to the Vineyard was located just on the West Tisbury side of the Chilmark-West Tisbury boundary, making it a perfect fit for his new operation.
David was passionate about West Tisbury and its rural beauty. He realized that to keep the town he loved from losing that important quality he had to commit to it, so David ran for election to the West Tisbury planning board and served on the board for 30 years, from 1981 until 2011, when he moved to Chilmark.
In 1990, David married Laura Campbell. When they dispersed the cow herd in the fall of 1994, he realized he still loved the land. So David and Laura created a wonderful county store for animal feed and fine boots, to name a few of the products stocked at Campbell & Douglas Harness & Feed.
He helped many an Islander load feed or hay onto their trucks there. And this time of year, the early spring, he got on a tractor towing the plows, turning the soil for planting. And he would come into the house at the end of the day, cold and smiling.
David is survived by his wife Laura Campbell; daughter Jenifer and partner Jack Wildauer; daughter Alexandra Welch and his grandson Brendan Welch; daughter Diana DeBlase, her husband Glenn and granddaughter Gabriella; his first wife Jenifer Douglas and stepson David Breasted; brothers John and his children Leaf and Maya and partner Bobbie; James Douglas; Capt. Robert S. Douglas and his wife Charlene and their sons Brook, Rob and his wife Jackie, Jamie and his wife Marianne and children Grace and James, Morgan and his wife Griffin and their child Alexander.
A celebration of life and memorial in honor of David Douglas will be held when the corn is up to our ankles at a time, place, and date to be announced.
David was a true gem. I always looked forward to be on the receiving end of a load of hay from him because we would work side by side, a steady rhythm of him tossing, me catching and a conversation that I always wished lasted well beyond that load of hay. That was maybe twenty-five years ago but the impression of those days and the decent and gentle man who always seemed ageless to me haven’t faded a bit.
Very sad! What a great guy. He was fun to be around. My Saturday morning ritual for 6 or 7 years was to visit he and Laura at the store where our German Shorthaired Pointers would hang out together. (not always cordially). A great business and farm with wonderful owners. My condolences to you Laura and all of his large family.
David was fun, an iconoclast.
When something piqued his interest, he jumped right in, whether it was Oriental carpets, French cattle, or building museum-quality historical-reproduction houses.
He was also generous and helpful.
With his blue Pontiac station wagon he helped us move from Boston to the Vineyard at the beginning of the summer and back to Boston in September. Twice, I think.
That was back in the sixties.
He always had a warm word for old acquaintances, and will be warmly remembered.
My condolences to all of the family and circle of friends.
We were fortunate indeed to have had David as one of our Harvard roommates. Class of ’62. I watched his early explorations as architect and builder, then farmer with great admiration. Also his acumen at buying farms and land on MV in the ’60s especially before prices zoomed. A farm became available, David eyeballed it and plunked down for it. Then designed and built (after 1 yr at H Arch) a wonderful home by the little pond in W. Tisbury. It was there his brother Johnny announced to their father, during a visit by me, that he was headed to Hanoi. This was 1969 or so. As his father had been a highly-regarded Secretary of the Air Force and Deputy Secretary of Defense in the latter Eisenhower years, I took this as a bit of an announcement of independence and shock value. Their Dad was one of the country’s great men. Brother Bob’s exploits in Vineyard haven and beyond are well known. David’s were quieter, more rural than sea. A memorable and worthy family.
I always felt David was one of the most talented of our group, an independent spirit. Goodbye, Old Friend. I miss you. Henry Field
David was one of the finest men I ever met.
I first came here in 1968; met my wife here in 1970 and we bought our home on the island in 1990. It is on a piece of land that backs up to a 20 acre piece of US Agricultural Trust land leased by David Douglas and part of Rainbow Farm. David was one of the first people to greet us at our new summer home (we moved here full time eventually). In the early 90’s the Vineyard was hit by two storms, a hurricane that did relatively little damage and the No Name storm that ripped up trees and cause lots of damage. A neighbor called me at my office in Boston and told me to be prepared to “cut lots of wood” when I got to the island.
I arrived on a Friday morning and saw that the wooded area behind separating our house from the farm field was devastated with broken branches and eleven fallen trees. The only way I could really get to the damaged and fallen trees was from the field side of the property. I went to the farm and asked David for permission to drive my little pick up truck through his property to access the trees. He gave me permission and off I went. 45 minutes later I heard heavy machinery coming my way. David and two of his farm hands showed up with tractors, chain saws and a bucket loader and proceeded to go to work. What would have taken me two weeks by myself, was cleaned up in hours. David became my hero that day and I never failed to remind him and thank him every time I saw him. He just smiled and said, “That is what neighbors are supposed to do”. Not a big deal for him but a very big deal to someone with limited resources and lousy chain saw skills. He stopped by to say hello every time he was working in that field and saw us outside.
He was a man among men in this community and one of the finest people who ever graced this island.
RIP David Douglas.
Cannot believe so much time has passed since the 40’s and 50’s when David, his brothers and parents summered at West Chop. What fun we had biking around the inn, playing tennis and jumping off the Big Pier. But what I particularly remember is a time one summer in about 1950 when in an attempt to cool rising animosity between West Chop kids and Vineyard Haven kids David’s father organized a sort of track meet on the beach in front of their home in West Chop. Can’t remember who won what but the effort was what mattered. What I do remember was that David was always fun to be with.