We are sad to announce that David Grove, originator of Clean Language, Clean Space and Emergent Knowledge, died suddenly on January 8, 2008.

He was staying at the home of a long-time friend and collaborator in the USA when he suffered a heart attack. Emergency medical treatment was unsuccessful.

David will be sorely missed by all who knew and worked with him. David's elderly mother is flying to the US to bring her son home to New Zealand for burial, accompanied by his sister and a close friend. At the family's request a fund is being established to help them cover the considerable costs of repatriating David's body to New Zealand. Any money remaining after these costs have been met will be used to set up a lasting memorial to David: perhaps a website.

To donate to this fund, please go to www.davidgrove.org or, if you have a PayPal account, you can email a donation to donations@davidgrove.org.

The funeral will be in David’s home town of Tauranga, New Zealand on 19 January at 1pm local time (GMT +13 hrs) after a traditional Maori ceremony which will begin on 18 January. Full details are being posted here as they become available. 

If you have tributes, stories or comments about David that you would like to share, please send them to us, or post them in the David Grove forum at www.cleanforum.com

In Maori tradition it is believed that when a person dies their wairua (spirit) travels to its old haunts before its eventual ascension from Te Rerenga Wairua — the top of the North Island — where it departs to its spiritual home in Hawaiki. Visiting old haunts should keep David busy for a good while, and no doubt he'll come up with a few new ideas along the way.

We will miss David in a thousand different ways,

Wendy Sullivan and Judy Rees, James Lawley and Penny Tompkins 

From the forum:

“When someone appears then reappears without ever really knowing when, it's difficult to imagine that one day will be the day that one knows he will never reappear. The news is just sinking in...and it's scary ...and it hurts...” Lynn Bullock

"David Grove was my inspiration from the moment I met him. He created what I believe to be the most innovative work in the field of psychotherapy and self-development since Freud, but his special genius was to give what he knew for others to pass on, and that is what those of us who worked with him over the years will do.” Philip Harland

“I look forward to the coming together of David's legacy, to what will emerge from the seeds David has carefully scattered across the Earth. I miss him - his kindness - his genius - his laughter, and I am forever humbled by the unending sharing of his vision and work.” Matthew Hudson

“Like so many other people, I was swept along against my normal judgement by David’s ideas – his genius – and his enthusiasm… his willingness to be outrageous and to stretch the limits of what’s thought possible.” Judy Rees

"The most striking aspect of the memory is his eyes. How do they convey that unique cocktail of full attention, ready laughter, intelligent challenge, dry humour and total acceptance of the person before them?" Phil Swallow

“Getting to know David and his work has completely changed the course of my life professionally and has immeasurably enriched it personally.” Wendy Sullivan

"It is as important now as when we first met David in 1993 to keep his thinking and his work alive for others to learn from and enjoy.  He was a creative genius, an inspirational therapist and one hell of a man."  Penny Tompkins and James Lawley

"His tender care of the children, taking Georgia to theatre, calling Guy his googi boy, his humour, his exasperating impulsiveness, massaging Caitlin while she’s in labour, the ridiculous equipment in all of our sheds and those of my in-laws as he develops and drops ideas, the whirly gig parked in our street...” Caitlin Walker and family
 
“The magnificent, mad, mischievous mind stretcher; a unique and productive life cut short.” Carol Wilson