After a brave struggle with cancer, David Hansen “Punch” Worthington, Ph.D., passed away peacefully at his home in Keizer, Oregon on August 25, 2006. Punch’s life was taken by lung cancer as the result of asbestos poisoning. He was 70 years old.

Punch will be remembered for the passion with which he exercised his mind and body. Academically, Punch graduated from Chico State in 1964 with a degree in biology.  He earned his Ph.D. in genetics from Oregon State University in 1974 and taught science at colleges in the Pacific Northwest and Canada.

Punch retired from teaching to return to his true loves--labor organizing and peace activism. While working as a journeyman sandblaster and painter during the 1980s, Punch was the president of the Painters Union local 724 in Salem.  He spent the last ten years of his career as an asbestos investigator helping hundreds of patients afflicted with asbestos disease obtain justice.

In college Punch played football and boxed (hence the nickname “Punch”).  Always active, Punch enjoyed running, hiking, canoeing, and cross country skiing.  Whether hunting elk along the Oregon coast, crabbing in Alsea Bay, salmon fishing near Tilamook, harvesting plump ripe tomatoes from his garden, or cheering for his beloved Beavers from his end zone seats at Reser Stadium, for Punch, Oregon was truly Heaven on Earth.

A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corp, Punch was an ardent critic and fervent protester of imperialistic wars in Vietnam, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Iraq.  During the 1960s, he organized pickets on behalf of the United Farm Workers.  In the 1970s, he was the founding member of the Veterans Caucus at Oregon State.  In the late 1980s, he helped build a hospital in Nicaragua as a member of the Ben Linder construction brigade.  He was the founding president of the Salem Committee on Latin America from 1980 to 1990.

In the 1990s Punch helped fight against toxic smokestack emissions from a solid waste incinerator near Salem.  Each year, in an effort to liberate ranchland so that pronghorn, coyotes, fox, and other animals can run free again, Punch happily trekked to Eastern Oregon to participate in “barbed wire round ups.” As a self-described disciple of Native American Indian mythology, Punch worshipped the wonders of the natural world and respected the “cycle of life.”

Punch is survived by his brother Jack; his three sons, Norman, Roger, and David Worthington; and three grandkids.

The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, tax-deductible donations can be sent to either (1) the Pacific Heart Lung & Blood Institute, Inc., to help fund basic research on occupational diseases at the Punch Worthington Cancer Research Lab (see www.phlbi.org), or (2) the Oregon Natural Desert Association ( see www.onda.org ). 

In lieu of a material donation, Punch would be best honored if well-wishers voted for leaders who will defend our bill of rights, preserve our wilderness, fight for socialized health care, and protect the rights of labor unions in the U.S. and abroad.

A tribute to David Hansen "Punch" Worthington's life was held on October 13, 2006, at the PCUN/Oregon's Farmworker Union Hall.  T