William David (Dave) McCollum passed away of natural causes on September 15th at his home in the Snake River Canyon in Twin Falls, Idaho. He was 73. Born to Joseph D. and Jean McCollum during the brutal “Blizzard of ‘49” in Twin Falls, sports consumed his early years. As quarterback and team captain, he led the 1967 Twin Falls High School football team to the State Championships. From that day forward, he couldn’t walk the streets of Twin Falls without being greeted by someone who remembered him from those days.
Dave discovered fine art photography as an undergraduate at Harvard College, where he also met his future wife, Sally. He went on to pursue training in commercial photography at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, where he and Sally began raising their sons Jim and Andrew. Over the next 15 years, Dave traveled all over the world producing major photo shoots from Argentina to Alaska, Paris to Papua New Guinea, Libya to Fiji, and everywhere in between.
In 1990, Dave and Sally moved their family back to Idaho where Dave assumed management of the golf and fish operation his father had started with J. R. Simplot in the 1960s. The Canyon Springs Golf Course and Silver Creek Farms fish business occupied him full-time until his death. Living in the canyon in his “Bubba Shed,” he nurtured his beloved golf course and regaled the constant stream of friends and family with hilarious stories from his adventurous life, his trenchant observations of the political scene, and his wry humor about life in general.
With his larger-than-life personality, Dave made friends all over the world, whether recruiting tribesmen in Borneo to build a raft for a photo or playing all the old links courses in Scotland for “research.” While producing the photos for the long-running, worldwide “Camel Man” campaigns of the ‘70s and ‘80s, his colleagues noted that he was the actual embodiment of the independent adventurer portrayed in those ads.
Dave is survived by his wife Sally, his sons Jim (Liz) and Andrew (Gretchen), his grandchildren Arthur, Jasper, and Aurelia, his brother Joseph D. McCollum, Jr. (Lyn), and many nieces, nephews, and cousins. A memorial will be held on Saturday, October 15th, from 12:00 to 2:00pm, at the Canyon Springs Golf Course in Twin Falls. Friends and family who want to play some golf before or after the gathering are invited to call the Pro Shop (208-734-7609) to reserve a tee time. Identify yourself as a guest of the family and enjoy a round of golf in memory of Dave. He will be greatly missed by many.