David Butler Vietor died peacefully at home in Edgartown on Feb. 8 after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 80.

He was born in New Haven, Conn., on Jan. 1, 1942, to Anna Glen Butler Vietor and Alexander Orr Vietor. He grew up in New Haven and attended the Foote School. Each summer the Vietor family relocated to Edgartown, where his father taught David and his younger brother to sail in their first boat, Neptune, which was built by Manuel Schwartz in Edgartown. This began his lifelong passion for sailing and competition. Over the years, David won virtually every trophy offered by the Edgartown Yacht Club in many different types of boats and levels of competition. A life spent around and on the water would come to define him.

He graduated from the St. Paul’s School in 1959 and Yale University in 1963, and then received his master’s degree in German literature from Stanford University in 1965. He was a lifelong historian and an erudite man who read deeply and enjoyed long conversations with many like-minded friends.

David was always talented in languages and became proficient in Spanish, German and Russian. He taught German and Russian at Boston University and the Choate School.

But his true calling came after successfully racing the family’s boats. He was hired to work for Ted Hood at Hood Sails and was brought on board various winning yachts as an astute sail trimmer, navigator and tactician. He found it hard to turn down a customer’s request to join the crew, and was famously listed as part of the crew on five different boats during one Bermuda Race. He raced in 16 other Bermuda races as well as several trans-Atlantics. He was often part of a U.S. team competing in Dragons, 6 Metres, or Solings all over the world.

He moved from Hood Sails to become president of Ratsey and Lapthorn where this pattern of intense racing continued and led to his association with the America’s Cup. He completed two America’s Cup campaigns in 12 Metre Regattas. He became a founding member of the Courageous Sailing Center in Boston, which encourages teaching underprivileged children the skills of sailing and boat handling as a foundation for life.

After leaving Ratsey, he became director of the Acorn Foundation. There he was deeply involved in philanthropic activities including producing documentaries about New York city history. He served on the board of the South Street Seaport Museum and the president’s council at Mystic Seaport, where the Vietor family has a long history.

Retiring to the Vineyard, he became involved in many nonprofit organizations and served on the board of the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and was president of the Dukes County Historical Society. He was also a staunch supporter of Sail MV.

His happiest days were spent in the company of other sailors, who always enjoyed his enthusiastic re-telling of close calls and dramatic decisions on the race course, no matter how many times they had heard them before. In his last years he became a keen observer of the local racing scene and was often sought out after the race to critique it.

David was a well-respected member of the waterfront community on the Vineyard and was a member of the Edgartown Yacht Club, Chappaquiddick Beach Club, Edgartown Reading Room, Edgartown Golf Club and the New York Yacht Club.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy Blair Vietor, whom he met on a port starboard collision 71 years ago; sons Andreas, Oliver and Ed Vietor; daughters: Susan Vietor Daughtry and Christina Vietor Osterman; his step-children Marshall Highet Prida and Ethan Trask; and 16 grandchildren. His brothers Richard and Sandy, and his sisters Louise V. Oliver, Polly V. Sheehan and Martha V. Glass also survive him.

A celebration of life is planned for late June when the boats are launched and the flags are flying.

Donations can be made to the Martha’s Vineyard Museum’s Cooke House Gardens Atlantic Neptune Panel (mvmuseum.org/chgdonate), Mystic Seaport’s CCA floating dock project (mysticseaport.org/all/donate/details/181), the David B. Vietor Seamanship Fund at the Courageous Sailing Center in Boston (courageoussailing.org/donate), or Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard (hospiceofmv.org/donations).