Daniel has died.

Daniel Eaton Pentlarge
January 7, 1958 -- September 21, 2004


I don't have a lot of words right now. So I'll use what Graham wrote:

Shortly after 1:00 p.m. this afternoon, my former partner and closest friend, Daniel Eaton Pentlarge, died at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was forty-six years old. The exact cause of his final illness and death is still under exploration; what is clear is that his body failed to mount an effective defense against a catastrophic fungal infection of the lungs.

Born in Boston, Daniel was a proud resident of Worcester until his adulthood, and a proud resident of Boston thereafter. Disappointed in his lifelong dreams of Unitarian Universalist ministry, he went on to become an important lay leader in every congregation of which he was a member. He frequently worked in social services, and had a special empathy for plight of the mentally ill; most recently, he was an administrator at Kurzweil Technologies.

I am glad that I had some part in introducing him to contra dance and English Country dance, both of which brought great joy to his life. Some of you may know Daniel as the author of "Be a Dance Angel," which is an important distillation of his strong views about the creation of community through social dance (CDSS News Mar/Apr 2004, #177).

Daniel was cherished for his compassion, wit, geniality, and intelligence. We are all impoverished by his death.