Professor Emeritus David Brodie died peacefully on Thursday, November 30, 2023, in his beloved San Luis Obispo, after a long illness. An original globetrotter, he was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and graduated in architecture from Cape Town University. He spoke the Ndebele language and had learned Afrikaans. At the university he was exposed to a cross disciplinary education and spent a year in London studying furniture design with the artists of the day. He practiced architecture with his brother-in-law, Manfred Berlowitz, in the latter's progressive Bulawayo practice. But his interests were always broader than just architecture, so he also worked in the fields of landscape architecture and interior design. He painted and created theater set designs. He left Zimbabwe in 1962, when the whole family moved to London, England. He started to practice architecture again but soon realized he needed more academic qualifications to succeed. Turning his attention to the US, David was accepted into the master’s program at UC Berkeley where he thrived, taking classes in architecture, planning, sociology, and painting. He worked with Peace Corp volunteers preparing them for deployment in Africa to profile communities there. His master’s thesis centered on the planning of suburban housing. It was at Berkeley that David found an affinity for the Socratic method of teaching which he shared with his friend, the computer pioneer Professor Christopher Alexander. Sadly, his doctoral thesis fell victim to a bulldozing campaign in what became People's Park while David was traveling in Europe. Nonetheless he continued as an Assistant Professor of technical drawing and was offered other prestigious opportunities including Department Chair at the University of New Mexico. At Berkeley, over a teaching period lasting from 1963 -1970 he became a close friend of many illustrious architects and educators including Denise Scott Brown, Dick Whittaker, Charles Moore, Spiro Kostof and Joseph Esherick. In 1970 David accepted an offer from Cal Poly's Professor Paul Neel to teach in their prestigious 5th year architecture program. The school uniquely emphasized teaching over publishing, and the Dean, George Hasslein, was a generalist like David, so he embraced his new colleague's approach. He taught Architecture and City and Regional Planning at Cal Poly from 1970 until his retirement in 2004. To fully understand and then solve a problem David believed one needed to keep an open mind and not close avenues of thought prematurely. He worked to expose his students to international architects, musicians, and artists by coordinating with Marion Tournon-Branly Cal Poly's Fontainebleau Exchange Program, this was part of his quest for people to think "outside the box" which stayed with him throughout his life. The other side of his life was devoted to civic affairs. A fierce Democrat working to elect several notable candidates including County Planning Commissioner Anna Alexander, Senator Diane Feinstein, and ultimately working on the Hillary Clinton Presidential campaign. Along with his dear friends Allan Cooper and Elizabeth Abrahams he founded the Save Our Downtown citizen activist group to give a voice to the average citizen when the city had been showing too much bias in addressing the development community's priorities. He lamented the loss of distinctive, human centric communities and fought to preserve the unique qualities, i.e. the genius loci, of San Luis Obispo. After retiring David continued to mentor and tutor within and outside the teaching environment. His message to young people was that they should show initiative, challenge themselves and create and seize new opportunities. Over the past five years David and Allan Cooper wrote and published eight opinion pieces and one article that was submitted to "Focus", a scholarly publication. David's aim was to author a book that could be used in architecture schools applying critical thinking and user needs analysis to the built environment. In addition to being a passionate educator and community activist, David was infinitely kind to both people (particularly the underprivileged ones) and animals. He was an incisive and entertaining conversationalist, a gentleman and always a dapper dresser. Perhaps most memorably, he was successful in preserving his beautiful old-world accent. He is survived by his beloved sister, Ravena and two nieces Andrea and Vanessa who are both married with sons. They benefitted enormously from his support and guidance. His grandnephews Blaise, Milo, and Cameron, all greatly enjoyed Uncle David's involvement in their lives. His family, all in the West of England, regret that they were so far away during this difficult time. He will be missed by his many close and devoted friends. David would wish that you plant a tree in his honor.  A celebration of David's life is to take place on March 30, 2024 and will be located at the Rotunda, Orfalea College of Business, Cal Poly Campus at 2 pm.