David Christopher, a former executive at several travel companies and cruise lines, including Costa Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line, died on August 13. He was 80.
Over career that spanned four decades, Christopher held executive positions in both sales and passenger services with travel firms including Eastern and TWA on the air side and Commodore, Costa and Norwegian.
According to industry publication Seatrade Cruise News, Christopher was an executive vice president at Costa in North America for 15 years, until 2005. Prior to that he held sales, marketing and passenger services positions at Commodore and had two stints with Norwegian, in sales and passenger services, starting in the 1970s.
Christopher died in Port St. Lucie, Fla., where he and wife, Ines, had retired, Seatrade said.
John Severini, an industry veteran whose resume includes Disney, Trafalgar and the California Travel Association and most recently founded TravelBiz Solutions, credited Christopher with giving him his start in the cruise industry, as a sales representative for Norwegian, and mentoring him throughout his career.
"Dave was the kind of guy that made your life better by knowing him," Severini said, adding that Christopher was his mentor throughout his career in travel. "Many people and organizations benefitted from his talents and many contributions to travel. He was a one-of-a-kind man. We will miss his kindness and wisdom."
Another cruise veteran, Brice Nierenberg, wrote in a Facebook post that Chrstopher was "one of the nicest people in the entire travel business. Good friend and a positive influence to all who were blessed to work with him."