- Date Of Birth: March 22, 1949
- Date Of Death: July 5, 2020
- State: Connecticut
David Alan Pels, 71, of Newington passed away after a long illness on Sunday, July 5, 2020. Born in New Rochelle, NY, and raised in Stamford, CT, David was the son of Barbara (Katz) Pels and the late Alan Pels. After graduating from Rippowam High School, he attended Clark University, where he met his future wife of 49 years, Laura (Glazer) Pels. David and Laura lived in Newington for 45 years and were active members of the Kehilat Chaverim in West Hartford. In 1974 he earned a law degree from the University of Connecticut and began a career dedicated to protecting low-income and disadvantaged tenants in the Greater Hartford area. His creativity and tenacity kept thousands of residents in their homes and set legal precedent for countless others. Among his many accomplishments, he won Connecticut renters the right to smoke detectors, enforcement of “good cause” protections for senior, disabled, and subsidized tenants, and stronger protections against retaliatory evictions. In 2016, he was appointed by Governor Malloy to the Connecticut Advisory Committee on Housing Matters and in 2016 he was awarded the Charlie J. Parker Award from the Connecticut Bar Association for his “deep and abiding interest in and dedication to the delivery of legal services to the disadvantaged in Connecticut.” Upon retirement in 2019, the David Pels Homelessness Prevention Fund was established to help low-income tenants avoid eviction. David instilled in his family a love of games, puzzles, politics, the NY Giants, and UConn Basketball. He delighted in time spent with his grandchildren and sharing board game strategy, both in person and more recently online. He will be remembered by his wife Laura, his mother Barbara, his two children, Andrew Pels and his wife Salley of East Greenwich, RI, and Tammy (Pels) Gamerman and her husband Jacob of Larchmont, NY, and his four grandchildren, Liliana and Alan Pels and Isaac and Nora Gamerman. He will be deeply missed by his sister Susan Pels and her husband Joseph Sweigart, his brothers- and sisters-in-law Joan and Stuart Margolis, Edward and Mary Glazer, Patricia Glazer, Robert Egan, and many other cousins, nieces, nephews and lifelong friends.
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