David S. Greenwald

David Stephen Greenwald was born on June 8, 1947, in New York. He was born with a heart defect and had groundbreaking corrective surgery at 15, outliving his original life expectancy of 20 by nearly 60 years. He grew up rooting for New York sports teams, later shifting his allegiance to Philadelphia.

He earned a bachelor's degree in sociology at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, where he performed in several Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and a doctorate in psychology at Adelphi University in New York. He did postdoctoral work in Philadelphia and California.

Greenwald practiced as a clinical psychologist in Philadelphia, Bucks County and elsewhere, and was an expert on marriage, children, violence, anxiety, despair, stress, anger, sports psychology and psychotherapy. He hosted Family Matters, a radio call-in show on WHYY-FM, in the 1980s, and spoke at workshops, high schools, colleges, hospitals and community centers. The Inquirer and Daily News interviewed him on subjects from domestic violence to depression after sports defeats.

From 1992 to 1996 he was a player relations consultant and team psychologist for the Philadelphia Eagles. In 1995 he jokingly wagered with players that they would not win four straight games; when they did, he let them shave his head in the locker room. In the week before the Eagles lost the 2005 Super Bowl to New England, he served on the Daily News "Ask the Experts" panel.

In 1979 he and his wife were among 89 people arrested for jumping a snow fence and occupying the construction site of the Limerick nuclear power plant in Montgomery County. "We wanted to be arrested," he told The Inquirer, "so the people could get the facts on nuclear power." They later studied the effects of the nuclear arms race on children and helped create Peace Research Associates in 1985. In 1987 he coauthored No Reason To Talk About It: Families Confront the Nuclear Taboo and appeared on Bernie Sanders' cable TV show, Bernie Speaks with the Community. The couple also protested the Point Pleasant pumping project in the 1980s and met with dissidents and refuseniks in the Soviet Union.

He met Wendy Forman, a psychotherapist, on a blind date in New York, and they married in 1970. They had a son, Abraham, and a daughter, Anna, and lived in Carversville, Bucks County, for 20 years before moving to Philadelphia in 2004. Together they ran marriage workshops, performed in a show called The Comedy of Marriage or Living Together, threw memorable parties and watched South Korean K-dramas.

He was an avid reader, writer, storyteller and sports fan who liked dancing and singing and did a mean Mick Jagger impersonation. He walked his dog in Rittenhouse Square, made friends with practically everyone he met and especially supported people living without homes.

Greenwald died of complications from a stroke at his home in Center City, Philadelphia, on Wednesday, September 9, 2026. He was 79. He was survived by his wife, his son and daughter, two grandchildren, a brother and other relatives. His family planned a private celebration they called "Davidpalooza."

"He had a big personality," his wife said. "He was beloved by his patients. He spoke up, but it was always with humor." His daughter said, "His generosity of spirit was unparalleled," and his son said, "He really lived a life." His family asked that donations in his name go to Homies Helping Homies in Philadelphia.