David George Powell ’54

Dave died following surgery for a hernia Feb. 14, 2023. 

He came to us from New Trier High School in Winnetka, Ill., where he was active in publications and student government. At Princeton, he joined Cloister Club and earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in aeronautical engineering. 

After Princeton, in the course of his career as an engineer, entrepreneur, and inventor he studied operations research, hypersonics, accounting, and computer programming. A licensed pilot, he maintained a lifelong interest in airplanes. He married Elizabeth “Betsy” Parker in 1963.

Dave worked at Lockheed in Los Angeles, Stanley Aviation in Denver, GE’s Missile and Space Division in Valley Forge, Pa., and then W.R. Grace’s R&D construction products division in Cambridge, Mass. 

In 1974, following “an entrepreneurial urge,” Dave took a mid-career break and earned an MS in management at MIT. He then co-founded Diamond Machining Technology (DMT), pioneering the development and manufacturing of micron diamond abrasive hand tools. Dave and Betsy managed DMT together for 28 years, with distributors in 32 countries. An inveterate “fixer,” Dave filed multiple patents over the years for sharpening devices and, in his retirement, started Plane Perfect, for which he continued to travel to woodworking shows right up to his death. 

He is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Betsy; son Parker; daughters Clare and Elizabeth; six grandchildren; and brother Malcolm ’52.