NAPLES, Florida — David Winslow Worthington died peacefully at his home in Naples, Florida on February 1, 2024. Summer residents of Spruce Head Island in Midcoast Maine, David and his wife, Beverly, founded the Worthington Scholarship Foundation which awards $10 million in scholarships annually to hundreds of Maine public high school students attending Maine colleges.

David was born in Worcester, Massachusetts on August 27, 1941, to Ruth Eleanor (Griffin) and Everett Aretas Worthington, and lived a fascinating, productive, and generous life. Due to his mother’s long-term illness and his father working various jobs to support the family, David spent several of his formative years living with family, friends, and people who housed children in return for payment. From these experiences, he felt that he understood the issues kids from families in need face, and later determined to help make it possible for them to attend and succeed in college.

Among his extracurricular activities in the Worcester area, he was a member of the Boy Scouts of America, elevating to the rank of Eagle Scout. From an early age, he was interested in science, math, and physical fitness. He was an only child and with his perpetual curiosity coupled with an appreciation for the outdoors, he could spend hours exploring his surroundings often with a pellet gun, fishing rod, and/or pet dog in tow.

After graduating from Tantasqua Regional High School in Fiskdale, Massachusetts, he matriculated to Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio, where he earned his B.S. in Geology following a 3-year interruption with the U.S. Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps. He continued his education under a Texaco Fellowship at the University of Utah and Virginia Tech, receiving an M.S. in Geophysics in 1969.

David’s oil industry career began in Houston with Shell Oil Company, with a subsequent transfer to New Orleans where he became Exploration Manager for the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic in 1980. Following a brief attempt at setting up an exploration company to explore the Gulf of Mexico, David took over an associated geophysical company and assumed a majority ownership position (TGS Geophysical Company). TGS rapidly became the largest provider of modern non-exclusive seismic data in the Gulf of Mexico and following a merger with a Norwegian company (NOPEC), became TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company and the fourth largest such company in the world. David retired from active management in 1996 and relinquished his board responsibilities in 2007.

In addition to his family and business commitments, David had a deep interest in helping others as a volunteer, board member, and philanthropist. This theme would continue over the remainder of his life. These included serving as a Trustee of Marietta College and a “Patient Pal” at Texas Children’s Hospital. David was Trustee Emeritus of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation (AAPG) and was the 2016 recipient of the Austin L. Weeks Medal. He was a member of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG). He treasured his lifelong friends in both organizations. He provided numerous scholarships in geology to AAPG, Rice University, Marietta College, and Virginia Tech, where he also endowed a Chair and a Graduate Fellowship. Keenly interested in world events, he and Beverly hosted domestic and foreign dignitaries in their home in Houston.

Upon retirement, his thoughts turned to Maine, the place he so loved. And he loved the people in Maine – hardworking, overcoming life’s setbacks – just as he had to do. But he knew he could not have accomplished all he did in his life without others helping him in so many ways. So, he and Beverly decided to spend the rest of their lives helping young people with financial need in Maine achieve their education goals.

In 2017, they founded the Worthington Scholarship Foundation, based in Rockland, Maine. From its inception until January 2024, he served as Chairperson of the Foundation. Starting with one county, the Foundation expanded to all sixteen counties where seniors at every one of Maine’s public high schools are eligible to receive a four-year scholarship worth up to $20,000 to pursue postsecondary education at colleges and universities in Maine. To date, the Foundation has awarded over $27 million to nearly 2,000 Worthington Scholars. David and Beverly’s legacy is endowed to continue through 2050, ensuring the Foundation will continue to adapt based on the needs of its Scholars as it works towards the goal of empowering the next generation of Mainers through access to higher education.

Recognized in the community both for his generosity and the college success of Worthington Scholars, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of Southern Maine and an Honorary Doctor of Public Service degree from Husson University. For the difference the Foundation was making in the lives of Mainers, he was presented a Paul Harris Fellow award by the West Bay Rotary Club. Thomas College has selected him to receive an honorary doctorate in May 2024, which will be presented posthumously.

A true Renaissance man, he enjoyed writing poetry, painting, woodworking, breadmaking, hiking, golfing, and was regimented about exercising. His poem “Waterloo”, a historically accurate epic of the Battle of Waterloo, was published by The Waterloo Association of the United Kingdom. He loved to travel. He and Beverly went on many adventures around the world: hiking Machu Picchu, trekking through New Zealand’s rainforest, touring climate research stations in Antarctica, floating the Nile in Egypt, camel riding in North Africa, and fossil hunting in Mongolia, just to name a few.

He was a partner in a fossil quarry in Northwestern Colorado and loved working in digs where one of the treasures found there was a Camarasaurus dinosaur. He accumulated a collection of fossils as a hobby and loved looking at rocks and formations everywhere in the world he visited.

He shared his love of the outdoors with his children and grandchildren. His daughters Jenny and Page fondly recall many adventurous childhood memories that included fishing, hiking, camping, and motorized recreational vehicles that often ended with a mischievous warning, “Don’t tell your mother!”

He is survived by his beloved wife of 23 years, Beverly Stutts Worthington; his daughters Jennifer Edwards (Mark) and Page Arlt (Shane), and stepdaughters Tanya Rich (Gary), Jeri Sonnier (David), Charlotte Jackson (Gary), and Julie Bourgoin (Thomas).

David leaves behind his grandchildren, David, Kelly, and Scott Edwards and Riley, Shane, Jr., and Connor Arlt, and step-grandchildren Keith Rich, Jessica Burke, Katie Carroll, Mindy Bielss, Tom Jackson, Abigail Jackson, Thomas Frazier Bourgoin, and Nathaniel Bourgoin as well as 11 great-grandchildren. 

David’s quiet, genteel, and humble manner was paired with a wonderful sense of humor, fierce golf competitiveness, and insatiable curiosity about the world around him. David will be remembered by his family, friends, and all who knew him, as the kindest and true gentleman of their lives.

Friends and family are invited to a celebration of David's life, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, from 4 to 7 p.m., at the Samoset Resort in Rockport, Maine.

Should friends desire, contributions honoring his memory may be made to the Worthington Scholarship Foundation, 12 Water Street, Suite 202, Rockland, ME 04841.