David Meade Massie Obituary Notice
M. MASSIE
LOSES FIGHT
FOR HIS LIFE; After a brave struggle
for over a year, end
comes to him Saturday
afternoon.
After making a brave but losing fight against an enemy which he had not fully
recognized, David Meade Massie, grandson of Nathaniel Massie, died at his home
on West Water Street, Saturday afternoon at four o’clock, but a few hundred feet
from the house in which he was born, February 26th, 1859.
His illness, which was of a complicated character disclosed by a surgical
operation two years ago at Baltimore to be malignant, was one which brought him
intense pain and which slowly but certainly wasted him into a veritable shadow
of the large man that all so well knew, and yet he did not complain. He bore his
suffering bravely and fought on to the very end, even insisting upon giving his
attention to the business of others, where he was really entitled to gain rest.
David Meade Massie was the son of Henry and Susan Burton (Thompson) Massie and a
native of this city. He lived a portion of his early life in Highland county,
but most of his years were spent in Chillicothe where he had built himself a
place which brought him the esteem of all who knew him and the warm love of
many. He was a student at the Ohio State University for a time but was graduated
from Princeton University, being given his A. B. degree in 1880 and his master’s
degree some time later. In 1882 he was given the L. L. B. degree at the
Cincinnati law school and was admitted to the Ohio bar the same year.
In his legal practice he was associated for some years with the late Judge B. F.
Stone, but in the main his legal activities were conducted by himself and it was
only in the past few years, since the death of the late Alexander Renick, when
he was called upon to fill the presidency of First National bank and of the
Valley Savings Bank and Trust Co., that he closed his law office and devoted
himself entirely to banking.
He was appointed a commissioner to take testimony in Cuba under the Spanish
Treaty Claims Commission in 1902 and made a most enviable for efficiency in that
post. More recently he was one of a coterie called upon to untangle the skeins
of the highly involved Columbus Street Rail, Light and Power Co. and it was
largely due to his direction that that company was saved from being devoured by
outside interests and for the prosecution of a successful suit to recover more
than a million dollars.
Mr. Massie was elected state senator in this the Fifty-Sixth district in
1887-1889. He served as a trustee of the Ohio State University 1888, 1893, and
1900. In 1896 he was a delegate to the Republican National convention from Ohio
and for thirty years he was connected with the business regime of Scioto
Gazette, retiring some two years ago. He has been a director of the First
National bank for many years and died as its president, and he served as a
director of the Valley Savings Bank and Trust Co. from its founding and died its
president also. He was the secretary-treasurer of the Marcus-Boggs Estate Co.
which has administered the estate of his friend for so many years following Mr.
Boggs death.
Mr. Massie was a Presbyterian in his religious affiliation but was broad-minded
enough to give each one the right to believe as his conscience directed him. And
as evidence of this, one must point to his funeral being attended by his
neighbor, Rev. F. K. Kresukamp, a Catholic priest, who this morning sent in the
following tribute to his memory: In the death of Hon. D. M. Massie, the city of
Chillicothe has sustained a distinct loss.