Press Release: A sad loss for our company and community

It is with deep sadness that we inform everyone about the passing of David Middleton.

David was battling COVID-19 and passed Saturday afternoon. Dave played an important role here at SmiteWorks, and within the community. Roleplaying games were David's life and he always made room at the table for anyone who wanted to play. His role with the company was working directly with customers as a Customer Support Rep, a YouTube and Twitch streamer, and as a Gamemaster. He loved working with people, teaching others about gaming, and generally just spreading his love for the many games he enjoyed.

David made a name for himself as The Digital Dungeon Master on YouTube and on Twitch where he had more than 25K followers and countless videos focused primarily on online RPG play. He joined SmiteWorks in 2017 as only our fifth employee and he played a very big part in the growth of our company. He was often the face of our company online and the first interaction many of our users had with the company. More importantly, David was a true friend.

My life was greater for having had David in it. He told me earlier this week that he would see me on the other side. I held out hope that he would make it through this challenge and that we would one day be able to roll dice together again. Unfortunately, life had a different plan. I truly hope that I do get to see him again one day and I hope he is watching from above whenever we roll those 1's and 20's. He will be missed.

David is survived by his son Nick and his mother Mary. Our hearts go out to David's family at this difficult time. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

We are communicating with David's son and we will post additional information about funeral arrangements once we receive them. We are sharing a link to this press release with David's family. If you would like to leave a message for his family, please do so below. It would mean a lot to them to see how loved David was in our community.

This is truly terrible news.

I spent quite a few hours in video calls with him during his time with Smiteworks and had the privilege to meet him and his son, Nick, during the Alpha launch party a couple of years ago in Florida. We spend quite the few hours discussing gaming and life in general over a few libations in the hotel bar. As Doug says he had a prodigious knowledge of, and love for, gaming and RPGs in particular and he brought that to his conversation and into his many videos. He was the mainstay of Fantasy Grounds Fridays and brought pleasure to many in the community with his humour and humility.

He was also a great family man and my thoughts are with his son, Nick, and his mother and I know he cared deeply for both.

A truly gentle man, he will be sorely missed not just by the Smiteworks community but the wider gaming community in general. One of the greats.

I will always remember his videos, his smile showing through how much he loved RPG and sharing that passion with us.
Sad news, my heart and thoughts go to his family...

very sorry to hear this he helped me a lot with unity.

Sad news indeed. Prayers sent for his family and the SmiteWorks company.

His videos have always been useful and fun to watch. My condolences to all he was near and dear to.

Super sad news ��

I hate to hear this. I learned a great deal about Fantasy Grounds from David. We chatted a few times here and there and he was just a great guy. Happy and always willing to help out with any issues or questions I may have had, or just chat in general about RPG's. I looked forward to Fantasy Grounds Fridays and David's videos on you tube. He'll be greatly missed. Thoughts go out to his family. If there is anything we can do, let us know.

I was a member of his Patreon for a while and played in games that he ran. He was always patient and kind, funny and thoughtful. He was also excellent as the voice and face of smite works. He was a great member of this community, and he will be missed.

Hi, Oso Búho here from the Fantasy Grounds Español community.

I shared the news with our group this morning and already got a few messages saying how he was a highlight of the Fantasy Grounds community and his videos were extremely instructive and always seemed to be smiling and enjoying everything he did.

My thoughts go to the family and friends.