In Memoriam
DAVID EDWARD BLACKWELL, 1960-2025
SDPA is saddened to report the passing of its former President, David Edward Blackwell. David served as President of SDPA in 2004 and 2005, helping to build connections, mentor paralegals of all experience levels, and lead SDPA's efforts in advocating for paralegals and their roles within law firms and corporate legal departments large and small.
In 2022, David graciously gave his time and provided historical issues of SDPA's newsletter, Precedents, playing an integral role in helping to build SDPA's Newsletter Archives. The issues were chock-full of great information and show the evolution of the legal field as a whole and the paralegal advocates within it. SDPA's current Vice President of Membership, Christina Hough had the pleasure of interviewing David for the newsletter issue celebrating SDPA's 45th anniversary and found him to be generous with his time and insights. SDPA's longest serving board member and Director, NALA Liaison, Kristine Custodio Suero also fondly remembers joining SDPA with David at the helm as its President, stating: "He has always been a great mentor, supporter, and friend."
Obituary
David's beloved wife Genevieve shared the following:
It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of my husband, David Edward Blackwell, who left us on January 28, 2025, at the age of 64.
Born in Vicenza, Italy, on a U.S. Army Base in 1960, David grew up in La Jolla and spent the rest of his life in San Diego.
In the summer of 2023, David was diagnosed with angiosarcoma, a rare and extremely aggressive form of cancer - yet another example of how David was a one in a million kind of man. He fought a good fight and maintained his sense of humor until the very end.
David was an incredibly loving husband, father, uncle, grandfather, friend and mentor. He spent his career as a paralegal and provided colleagues with guidance as the President [and as a member] of the San Diego Paralegal Association for many years.
David leaves behind his devoted wife Genevieve, and his children John (Allison, Gemma), Jessica (Jorel), and stepson Jason (Abbie, Edie, and Oliver).
David will be missed dearly but never forgotten by his family, countless friends, and colleagues, who appreciated his thoughtful manner, great sense of humor, and sincere love for life.
We love you, David. Rest in peace.
Career
David had a long and impressive career working in various start-ups and tech companies in Southern California, including MP3.com, Activision Blizzard, and Qualcomm. At MP3.com, he supported in-house counsel in reporting litigation, managed music copyright infringement claims, liaised with counsel in the gathering of information and documents for production in the discovery process, and various other tasks. At Activision Blizzard, he supported in-house counsel on globally, including patent, copyright, and trademark infringement claims, shareholder derivative, mergers and acquisitions, contracts, and employment matters. As a Legal Specialist at Qualcomm, David supported patent, litigation, and employment counsel, researched semiconductor chips and source code, reviewed technical documents for relevant code and information, reviewed and responded to subpoenas, requests for production of documents, investigations, and various other matters.
He excelled at his craft and was recognized as a valuable and indispensable member of his legal teams. He was a proven collaborator, leveraging strong interpersonal and communications skills to build coalitions across organizational lines. David was client-focused and adaptable to a variety of work environments, and managed stress and deadlines well.
He earned a Bachelor's degree in Finance from San Diego State University and his paralegal certificate at the University of San Diego Paralegal Program.
