David Canfield, 66, former town official

David E. Canfield, a 40-year veteran of the investment business and 35-year Ridgefield resident, died Tuesday, March 26, at Danbury Hospital from complications of lung cancer. He was 66 years old and the husband of Virginia Canfield.
Mr. Canfield, who described himself as an ardent golfer, served on the committee that designed and built Ridgefield’s Dlhy Ridge Muncipal Golf Course in the 1970s. He had also been a member of the Board of Finance and had belonged to many community organizations.
Mr. Canfield was born in New York City on Sept. 30, 1935 to Angelica Gibbs Canfield, a writer for The New Yorker, McCall’s, and other national publications, and Robert Canfield, a corporate attorney. He grew up in New York and Port Washington and was educated at Vermont Academy in Saxtons River, where he later served as a two-term trustee, and at Dartmouth College. After three years in the Army with the 101st Airborne and the 17th Artillery, he left the service as a lieutenant to enter the investment business.
He joined Fahnestock & Co., an old-line investment banking firm, where he worked in trading, research, sales and syndicates. In 1967 Mr. Canfield made a calculated lifestyle change, moving his business operations to Danbury, while he and his wife built their home in Ridgefield where the family still resides.
“I reached the conclusion that I didn’t want to devote four hours or more commuting for the next 30 or more years,” he once said. “I wanted to watch and be part of my family’s growth. I hoped to build a solid business based on personal long-term relationships. I wanted the time and opportunity to evaluate and participate in outside business opportunities, and to get involved in a broad range of charitable and civic causes.”
Within a year of joining that “moribund office,” which had been slated for closure, Mr. Canfield was joined by Carl Susnitzky. Over the ensuing decades, the two worked in concert to build a flagship office for the firm and became prominent in western Connecticut financial markets. Mr. Canfield served as co-branch manager, a general partner of Fahnestock, and a director and senior vice president when the firm incorporated. When the firm was acquired in 1988, he continued as a senior vice president and branch manager, retiring from management in 2001.
Over the years Mr. Canfield served a number of community organizations. He was a board member and past president of the Ridgefield Jaycees, served on the boards of the Danbury Hospital Development Fund, the United Way of Northern Fairfield County and the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce.
He was involved for many years with the Ridgefield skating rink and Youth Hockey program, serving on the board, coaching house and travel teams, refereeing and chairing the program, and later heading the Ridgefield High School Hockey Booster Club.
He was a member of the Golf Course Committee at Dlhy Ridge from design through construction and the early years of operation. He also served a four-year term on the Board of Finance in the late 1970s.
Mr. Canfield was a 27-year member of Waccabuc Country Club in South Salem, and was a board member for the past 15 years, holding a number of offices. He served as president from 1999-2001.
Mr. Canfield, who described his family as “incredibly supportive,” is survived by his wife of 40 years, Virginia; a son and daughter-in-law: Christopher and Juno Lamb, and twin granddaughters Molly and Willa of Tamworth, N.H.; two daughters: Kimberley of New York City and Carolyn of Easton; and a sister, Sarah D. Smith of Arlington, Vt.
A memorial service will take place Tuesday, April 2, at 10:30 a.m. at Jesse Lee Memorial United Methodist Church.
Interment following cremation will be at the convenience of the family.
There are no calling hours.
Memorial gifts in lieu of flowers may be made to the Ridgefield Fire Department Ambulance Fund, Catoonah Street or the Ridgefield Library and Historical Association, 472 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877.
Kane Funeral Home is handling arrangements.