WESTMINSTER WEST — On Saturday, Sept. 27, at 4:30 p.m., there will be a memorial for David R. Koff. A tree-planting follows at 5:30, a potluck at 6, and a mini-festival of four of his short films at the Westminster West Community Church and Library at 7:15.
Koff was a frequent sight in Putney, Saxtons River, Bellows Falls, and Westminster West, where he lived with his partner, Crescent Dragonwagon, for the past 12 years.
A lifelong progressive activist, he was a documentary filmmaker, an Academy Award nominee, and had lived in Africa at the time of Independence. He made waves on two continents with “Blacks Britannica” (1978) and “Occupied Palestine” (1981), while his many short films for the union of hotel and restaurant employees changed organizing.
When he added environmentalism to his lifelong concerns with colonialism and economic justice, he explored it in a science-fantasy novel, “Threat.”
Privately, despite his wit, achievements, and keen mind, he battled depression. He took his own life on March 6. He was 74.
Celebrate his life, explore his work, and mourn his death in the company of his friends, neighbors, and partner.