It was an unusual friendship, one born out of appetite rather than social environment. It began one anxious day back in April 2012 – anxious for me, that is.

After having run an interactive fan-based Dodgers forum for several years, my IT guru and good friend Scott Harvey and I decided to expand our forum to include a full-blown blog site while maintaining our original domain name ThinkBlueLA.

Because of our tenure on the World Wide Web, I was honored to be invited to participate in the Dodgers relatively new and cutting-edge “Blog Spot,” as it was called back then. The Blog Spot was the brainchild of former Dodgers Vice President of Communications Josh Rawitch and his assistant Amy Summers Millstone and it allowed for established Dodger bloggers to actually cover games from the Vin Scully Press Box and allow them access to interview Dodger players in the clubhouse and on the field before and after games. It was, in every sense of the word, a dream-come-true for this lifelong Dodger fan and aspiring writer.

On that very first night I felt like a fish out of water. In fact, when I said this exact thing to Dodgers Director of Public Relations Joe Jareck, he replied “You look like one.” (God Bless Joe and his brutally honest sense of humor).

After compiling a stack of notes from various interviews (from which I wrote exactly one article), it was time to grab a quick bite to eat before the game started. As I entered the press box dining room – affectionately called “Dave’s Diner” – I was in absolute awe. Right there, right in front of me were Hall of Fame broadcasters Vin Scully, Jaime Jarrin and just about every Dodgers beat writer, many of whom I had followed for years, gathered together in the same room. I was clearly now an even bigger fish out of water and felt incredibly intimidated. That was until I got in line for my buffet-style meal.

At the head of the line at the carving station stood a man who was skillfully carving up that night’s specialty. As I neared this man, who was proudly wearing a sous chef hat and a smile that ran from ear to ear, he said to me “You’re new here aren’t you?” (Was my fish-out-of-water appearance really that obvious, as Joe Jareck had suggested?).

I told him yes and he immediately said “Welcome to the family, I’m Chef Dave,” and he shook my hand.

I was flabbergasted. Here was the guy for whom this very dining room was named inside of Dodger Stadium’s most sacred temple – the Vin Scully Press Box – introducing himself to me, a nobody. After finally shutting my gaping mouth, I introduced myself back to him.

Chef Dave Pearson absolutely loved his job and was incredibly proud of his work. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Over the course of the next three years (and countless meals), Chef Dave Pearson and I became good friends. Whenever we saw each other Chef Dave would make it a point to always… always stop what he was doing and genuinely ask how I was. He was, without question, one of the nicest guys I have even known and also without question one of the most humble. It was so very obvious that he absolutely loved his job and loved being around his second family – which included anyone who had ever set foot in Dave’s Diner.

So marveled by Chef Dave was I that I simply had to do a feature story on him, which I did. During my one-on-one interview with Pearson I was absolutely spellbound by his story, which began as a child growing up in Brooklyn and included listening to Red Barber and Vin Scully broadcasting Dodger games on the radio – when he and his brothers weren’t sneaking under the fence at Ebbets Field to watch the games in person, that is.

Chef Dave proudly spoke of how he became a cook at a small restaurant in Boyle Heights up to how he eventually became a sous chef at Dodger Stadium. He spoke of preparing meals for Dodger Stadium guests such as Frank Sinatra, The Three Tenors, Elton John and Pope John Paul II. But hands down, his favorite two people at Dodger Stadium were Vin and Sandi Scully, who he proudly served every night.

Chef Dave with his favorite customer and Vin Scully with his favorite chef.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

My story on Chef Dave Pearson ran on Thursday, July 3, 2014 and to this day remains the most viewed article in the seven-year history of ThinkBlueLA; not because I am anything even remotely close to being a good writer but because Chef Dave Pearson’s story is so incredibly interesting and because he was so widely loved by everyone blessed… absolutely blessed to have known him.

When Chef Dave was diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this year and had to trade in his sous chef hat for a hospital gown for his chemotherapy and radiation treatments, he no longer came into work at his diner. And while life in the press box dining room went on, it just wasn’t the same. Oh sure, the current staff at Dave’s Diner continues to do an outstanding job, but so blatantly absent is that ever-present ear-to-ear smile that was Dave Pearson’s trademark. Absent is him constantly asking “All right?” after loading your plate with a mountain of great food. Absent is him asking “How ya doin’?” and sincerely meaning it in a way that made you feel special.

This past May, Pearson returned to Dave’s Diner for one final week. And though he made us all feel as though he had never left, we knew why he was there. We all knew – either first hand or by way of rumor – that Dave’s cancer was terminal and that he had insisted, absolutely insisted on returning to his home and family at Dodger Stadium to spend one last week with those who meant so very much to him – even that fish-out-of-water guy. And while those of us who painfully knew why Dave was there handled it in our own personal way, it was a gift from God that we got to share that one final wonderful week with him – this in spite of his own physical pain.

As everyone knows by now, Chef Dave Pearson lost his valiant battle with his disease this past Saturday afternoon, leaving a sorrow in the hearts of all who were blessed to have known him. He is survived by his wife Sherry, his loving daughters and his three grandchildren, who he so often proudly spoke of. He was 76 years old.

As it always does, life goes on and there will be another sous chef to carry on the great tradition in the Dodger Stadium press box dining room. But there will never… never be another Chef Dave Pearson with his infectious smile and overwhelming kindness.

Farewell, my friend.