The creator of the Nolan Chart diagram upon which this website is based passed away unexpectedly Saturday. by Walt Thiessen
(libertarian)
Monday, November 22, 2010
Stunning news has reached us that David Nolan, co-founder of the Libertarian Party and creator of the original Nolan Chart, the graphical representation of the political spectrum upon which this site is based, died unexpectedly Saturday. According to KPHO TV-5 in Phoenix, AZ, David was driving in Tuscon on Saturday when he suffered a stroke and was killed in the ensuing crash, just three days shy of his 67th birthday.
David was a columnist and contributor here at the Nolan Chart website, and just recently completed an unsuccessful run for John McCain's U.S. Senate seat in Arizona. He was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Maryland, before graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a B.S. degree in political science in 1966. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth.
I counted David as a friend. He was a gentle, kind-hearted man who was slow to anger and friendly toward all. His writing was straight from the heart and to the point, and it never crossed the line into personal attacks or vindictive prose. My last personal conversation with him was on October 7, 2010, when Jake Towne, Melinda Pillsbury-Foster, and I interviewed him regarding his Senate run on our weekly program, "Freedom News Hour/Surviving Meltdown", which airs Thursday evenings at 6 p.m. Eastern Time on the Progressive Radio Network.
In memory of David, the Nolan Chart website has permanently added a memorial notice on the Take Survey page and a dedication at the top of our home page.
David's gentle prose and warm-hearted wit will be greatly missed, and his Nolan Chart will continue to live on here at this website. Our thoughts and prayers go with you and your family, David.
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Posted By: William Westmiller
Date: November 22, 2010 04:38:52 PM
A truly noble man, with acute insight and unassailable principles. I thoroughly enjoyed working with him in the early years of the Libertarian Party. He will be sorely missed, but long remembered as a political pioneer and a patriot of the liberty movement.
Posted By: Framwave
Date: February 1, 2011 06:53:29 PM
Thank you for your contribution. I recently stumbled onto this site quite by accident. As a budding libertarian, fed up by the potical establishment and status quo, I find this site and its premise quite intriguing. I am sorry for your loss, Mr. Nolan must have been quite a man. I look forward to reading his materials and getting to know him better. Thanks and God bless.
Posted By: Craig Green
Date: August 17, 2011 06:39:06 PM
I only just learned of David Nolan's passing. I knew him in Colorado from 1980 until he moved away. It was always a pleasure talking with David and listening to him speak. I was a delegate to the 1981 LP national convention in Denver, which celebrated the Party's tenth anniversary of its founding in David's Denver home. Belated condolences to Elizabeth and others who knew him in Denver and in recent years. Later, I worked with Marshall Fritz and Advocates for Self Government, who further popularized the Nolan Chart. Both were gentlemen I admired and respected, and I count them among my most cherished contemporary mentors from that time, along with Karl Hess and Murray Rothbard. I was always amazed how former Republicans and Democrats came together to embrace the libertarian philosophy, in large part due to David's enthusiastic efforts.
