Peter David - Personal Life

Personal Life

David met his first wife, Myra Kasman, at a Star Trek convention. They married in June 1977, with his childhood friend Keith serving as best man. Together they had three daughters, Shana, Guinevere and Ariel. They separated in late 1996, and were divorced by 1998. David began dating Kathleen O'Shea, a bookseller, puppeteer and writer/editor in 1998. After dating for three years, David proposed to O'Shea at the Adventurers Club in Disney World on September 3, 2000. They married on May 26, 2001 in Atlanta, Georgia. Their daughter, Caroline Helen David, was born on December 5, 2002, and named after David's late friend and coworker, Carol Kalish. David and his family live in Suffolk County, New York, on the south shore of Long Island.

On June 27, 2010, David's wife, Kathleen, announced on his website that he had successfully undergone surgery on June 25 to relieve serious back pain. On June 30, David himself explained on his site that the pain, which he had been suffering in his hips and knees for three weeks, left him unable to function, and was eventually diagnosed as a herniated disc caused by bone fragments and fluid buildup. He underwent a three-hour discectomy, and was told his full strength would return in six months.

David had been a conservative Jew, but as of October 2003, attends a reform synagogue. He has, however, expressed reservations about organized religion.

David has named Groo the Wanderer, Liberty Meadows, Fables, Y: The Last Man, Strangers in Paradise, Runaways, She-Hulk, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, Knights of the Dinner Table, The Crossovers and J. Michael Straczynski’s run on Spider-Man as comics that he has enjoyed.

David is an avid fan of bowling, and a bowler himself, as is his daughter Ariel. He is also a fan of the New York Mets. His favorite music includes The Beatles, and his favorite albums include Harry Chapin's Verities and Balderdash and the soundtracks to Amadeus and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. His favorite movies include the James Bond films, The Adventures of Robin Hood, That, Casablanca, and the early Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films. His favorite TV shows have included Doctor Who, Hill Street Blues, Charmed, Carnivale, Boston Public, The Practice, Friends, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Alias and The West Wing. He is a fan of musicals, in particular 1776, Man of La Mancha, Li’l Abner and Into the Woods, with a taste for Lerner and Loewe and Stephen Sondheim. He also acts in local stage productions.