# Pervert Dave

> Pervert Dave is a 2014 viral obituary meme about Air Force veteran David W. Cummings, whose newspaper notice casually identified him by his decades-old biker nickname, sparking internet curiosity.

Pervert Dave is the viral nickname of David W. Cummings, a Florida resident and Air Force veteran whose April 2014 obituary exploded across the internet because it casually referred to him by his decades-old biker nickname. The obituary's matter-of-fact mention of "Pervert Dave" sparked widespread curiosity about how someone gets such a moniker, and a subsequent investigation revealed a life story far stranger than anyone expected.

## Origin
On April 16, 2014, the Tampa Bay Times published a death notice for David W. Cummings that included his nickname "Pervert Dave"[4]. Cummings had died on April 13 in his sleep at the Crystal River, Florida home of his longtime friend Karen Baker[1]. The following day, a photo of the obituary was tweeted by the @SlowSlownes Twitter account, picking up over 140 retweets and 90 favorites in its first week[4].

Baker, who had placed the obituary, later explained that the nickname was just part of who Cummings was. "He's had the nickname for 40 years or better," she told the Democrat and Chronicle. "Everybody just knew him as 'Pervert.'"[1] She said she believed the name came from his motorcycle friends but admitted she never actually asked him about it[1].

- **Platform:** Tampa Bay Times (obituary), Twitter (viral spread)
- **Creator:** @SlowSlownes (viral tweet), Karen Baker (obituary author)
- **Date:** 2014

## Overview
The Pervert Dave meme centers on a newspaper obituary for David W. Cummings that included his lifelong nickname without any explanation. The humor came from the jarring contrast between a solemn death notice and the casual, unexplained use of "Pervert Dave" as though it were a perfectly normal thing to call someone. A photo of the obituary circulated on Twitter and blogs, with people fixating on the obvious question nobody in Cummings's life apparently ever asked: how did he get that name?

## How It Spread
The same day the tweet went viral, the men's interest blog BroBible picked up the obituary photo, noting that while the notice was "well-written," it failed to address the nickname's origins, "leaving the imagination to run wild"[2]. On April 18, 2014, the Democrat and Chronicle published an interview with Baker that only deepened the mystery. She described Cummings as a beloved jokester who "would be the one sitting there telling the jokes" and "have everybody rolling on the floor laughing"[1].

Over the next several days, the story spread to the Daily Dot, Guyism, Death and Taxes, Uproxx, and Gawker[4]. Each outlet approached it with the same mix of amusement and genuine curiosity about the nickname.

Then on April 21, the Tampa Bay Times published a deep investigative piece that revealed Cummings's life was far darker than the lighthearted obituary suggested[3]. The article disclosed that Cummings had been honorably discharged from the Air Force in 1970 for a "character disorder" and suffered from PTSD, claiming to have survived three plane shoot-downs in Vietnam[3]. More shocking: over a 13-month period in the late 1980s, Cummings killed two people. He shot his amputee roommate, known as "Wheelchair Skip" (Furman W. Toney III), six times during an argument over money, and separately caused the death of a woman named Dale Marie Williams, 31, by crashing into a tree while driving under the influence[3]. He served roughly two years for the murder and one year for DUI manslaughter[3].

As for the nickname everyone wanted explained, Baker eventually offered a simpler answer to the Tampa Bay Times: "It's just something he came back with from Vietnam. It was just a nickname given to him"[3].

## How to Use
Pervert Dave isn't a template meme. People typically shared the obituary photo itself as a screenshot, often with commentary about the unexplained nickname. The humor works on its own without modification. When referenced, it's usually brought up as a prime example of an obituary that raises more questions than it answers, or as shorthand for the internet's ability to turn an ordinary local news item into a national talking point.

## Cultural Impact
The Pervert Dave story became a brief case study in how the internet processes obituaries and death notices. The Democrat and Chronicle ended their article by asking readers to contact them if they knew how Cummings got his nickname[1], turning a local newspaper piece into a crowdsourced mystery.

The Tampa Bay Times follow-up, written by Andrew Meacham (president of the Society of Professional Obituary Writers), turned what had been a comedy story into something much more complex[3]. The reveal of Cummings's violent history created an uncomfortable tonal shift, forcing people who had been laughing at the funny nickname to reckon with a genuinely troubled life. Cummings had been an Air Force veteran dealing with combat stress, a man who'd had three marriages, raised Paso Fino horses, and carved wood in rural Citrus County. He also had Hepatitis C and a fear of commercial air travel[3].

The meme sits in an unusual space in internet history: a story that started as pure comedy and became, within five days, something closer to true crime journalism.

## Fun Facts
- Cummings was born on September 28, 1949, in Rochester, New York, and left the area in the early 1970s[1].
- His obituary asked that donations be made to the ASPCA or other animal welfare organizations in lieu of flowers[1].
- Baker described herself as Cummings's "kid sister in the metaphorical sense," having met him as a teenager through motorcycle riding[1].
- "Wheelchair Skip," the roommate Cummings killed, had his own violent history. Six months before his death, Toney had fired a sawed-off shotgun at an imaginary intruder and hit a 5-year-old girl in the face instead[3].
- Baker "good-naturedly handled the hordes of media inquiries" that followed the viral obituary[3].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Pervert Dave?
Pervert Dave is the nickname of David W. Cummings, a Florida man whose April 2014 obituary went viral because it casually included his unexplained nickname[4].

### Where did the Pervert Dave meme come from?
The meme originated when the Tampa Bay Times published Cummings's obituary on April 16, 2014, and a photo of it was tweeted by @SlowSlownes the next day[4].

### What does Pervert Dave mean?
The nickname's origin was never definitively explained. His friend Karen Baker said it was "just something he came back with from Vietnam," a name he'd carried for over 40 years[1].

### How do you use the Pervert Dave meme?
People typically shared the obituary screenshot with commentary about the unexplained nickname. It's not a template format but rather a standalone viral image[2].

### Is Pervert Dave still popular?
No. The meme had a brief viral window in April 2014 and has since faded from active use[4].

### Who was Pervert Dave in real life?
David W. Cummings was a Rochester-born Air Force veteran who lived in Citrus County, Florida. He was a mechanic, real estate appraiser, motorcycle rider, horse breeder, and woodcarver who died of liver cancer at 64[1][3].

### Did anyone ever find out how he got the nickname?
Not conclusively. Baker told the Democrat and Chronicle she had no idea, then later told the Tampa Bay Times it came from Vietnam[1][3].

### What did the Tampa Bay Times investigation reveal?
The paper's follow-up article revealed Cummings had killed two people in the late 1980s, suffered from PTSD, and had been discharged from the Air Force for a character disorder[3].

### Who placed the obituary?
Karen Baker, Cummings's longtime friend of over 40 years, wrote and placed the death notice[1].

## References
1. [Democrat and Chronicle](<https://eu.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2014/04/18/pervert-dave-obituary-raises-obvious-question/7879001/>)
2. [Terrible News, Gang: We Lost "Pervert Dave" - BroBible](<https://brobible.com/life/article/terrible-news-gang-lost-pervert-dave/>)
3. [Terrible News, Gang: We Lost "Pervert Dave" - BroBible](<http://www.brobible.com/life/article/terrible-news-gang-lost-pervert-dave/>)
4. [Pervert Dave - Know Your Meme](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pervert-dave>)
5. [Infowars](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infowars>)
6. [UPROXX – Music Television and Culture](<http://uproxx.com/webculture/2014/04/pervert-dave/>)
7. [The Legend of "Pervert Dave," Who Killed Two People, Continues to Grow](<https://www.gawkerarchives.com/the-legend-of-pervert-dave-who-killed-two-men-conti-1566004066>)

---
Source: https://meme.com/memes/pervert-dave
Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library