Long time Alameda resident Dave Needle passed away Feb. 20, 2016. Dave was born in New York, but made Alameda his home.  

Dave arrived in Alameda in 1974, where he met Margo, his soulmate. He started his career at the Naval Air Station as an engineer, and went on to selflessly give himself to the community, drawing on his entrepreneurial spirit to assume leadership roles with groups working to mitigate aircraft noise in Alameda, and to guide development there.  

A major accomplishment was his detailed analysis and debate with proponents of the potentially disastrous SunCal housing initiative at Alameda Point, that was later defeated in a landslide at the polls. 

With C.L.A.S.S. the citizen group working with the Oakland airport, he represented the citizen participants in the noise settlement agreements between Alameda, Berkeley, and the Port of Oakland.  He wrote computer programs now used by citizens and the airport to track and identify overflights, and he helped analyze and resolve the Fedex nighttime cargo noise at Oakland airport and the AC transit bus noise in Alameda.  

Initially he worked at Tandem and Apple, but it was as a video game designer and and inventor where Dave’s talents really shone. He was instrumental in the formation and success of several hardware platforms, including the Amiga, and two computers he co-created, the Atari Lynx, and the 3DO.

As an inventor, he held numerous patents in the video game arena as well as several other industries. He was also a judge for local FIRST Lego League competitions and mentored a FIRST Robotics Competition team, and was a long time member of the RoboGames and BattleBots team Late Night Racing.

Dave is survived by his brothers, Jeff and Mark Needle, his daughter Gina Needle, sisters-in-law Becky & Heidi, brother-in-law Mark, mother-in-law Sadie Williams, numerous nieces and nephews, as well as many good friends, including Erin Van Winkle, Gary Gin, Stan Shepard, Reichart Von Wolfsheild, and RJ Mical.

Memorial Services will be held on Saturday, March 12, at 10:30 a.m. at Greer Family Mortuary, 2694 Blanding Ave. at Tilden Way, Alameda, CA 94501.