It’s been an awful month in the Vanagon community. You already know about Loren Busch. A day before, a long time listmember and eventually prolific Facebook poster Dan Beatty passed away. Here is the message posted by his son John. Unfortunately, the family photos were posted to a private FB group and cannot be viewed unless you are a member there.

“ Dear Friends,

We are sad to announce that Dan died yesterday afternoon, succumbing to heart failure and pneumonia.

We were with Dan at his bedside in the ICU during his final day, and he passed very peacefully. We had moments of communication with him that were special and meaningful to us.

Dan was looking forward to an aortic valve replacement in about a month that would have given him new energy, but despite good care, his body just wasn’t up for it.

He is survived by wife Barbara Beatty, his brother John Neil Beatty, his son John Daniel Beatty, daughter-in-law Han Li, three grandchildren, Zola (age 8 ), Weston (age 6), and Zander (age 4), and Molly (beloved Australian shepherd, age 4). He was preceded in death by his two sons, Taylor Harrison Beatty (died of cancer, age 23) and William Chad Beatty (died of cancer, age 3).

There are no public memorial services planned. We loved Dan very much and know he touched many lives. Please feel free to post any memories or photos of Dan here.

Barb and John”

Dan did not always deliver his advice in the way that most people found agreeable. However, he was often helpful in sharing his experience having been a field engineer and technical specialist for Mercedes. As he explained his job to me, he’s the guy they sent to fix customer issues, which no one in their team could fix. He had his engineering PhD to prove it.

BenT