David Alexander Spence

David A. Spence of Durham, NC, followed his Lord Jesus through death into eternal life on August 8, 2024, passing peacefully at UNC Hospital, with family and loved ones by his side, after suffering a major stroke.

Born on July 17, 1948, to Mary Haynes Wilson and Thomas Brand Spence, he grew up in Greensboro, NC. He graduated from his beloved UNC Chapel Hill in 1970 with a B.A. in Religious Studies, and he was a lifelong and faithful Tarheel to the end. He spent a formative stint serving as a missionary in Papua, New Guinea, and afterwards pursued graduate studies at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia.

He and Jean Douglass Hess of Allentown, PA, were wed on July 26, 1975, and they were married until her death on September 28, 2005. He is survived by their daughter, Serena Hess Hutcheson and her husband, Burke; son, Christopher D. Spence, and his wife, Laura; and grandchildren, Jean Douglass Hutcheson, Spence Conrad Hutcheson, Holly Elizabeth Hutcheson, Sophia Michelle Spence, and George Christopher Spence.

David opened Logos Bookstore on the corner of Franklin and Columbia Streets, which helped to sustain a resurgence of biblical Christianity at UNC in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the Senior Vice President of Spring Arbor Distribution Company and was the founding CEO of First Century Voyages, through which many people sailed on the Sea Cloud to see the world of the first-century Christians and hear from prominent Christian leaders and scholars along the way. 

David believed that he and all Christians are “God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). He lived this out over his lifetime through service on numerous boards, promoting many causes that were dear to his heart as a follower of Christ: The Trinity Forum, Regent College, The Foundation, Young Life, Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill, The Center for Christianity and Scholarship, and the UNC Study Center. His service to the Langham Partnership, which was born out of the work and vision of David’s friend, John Stott, lasted for decades, and David was the founding board chair of the US Langham Partnership and served on their board until his death. David also was the first chairman of Langham Partnership’s International Council and served as the executor of the literary estate of John R. W. Stott.

Jesus Christ called David to follow him in high school, through the ministry of Young Life, and David’s life was marked from then on by his faith in Christ. A deeply relational man, with friends across the globe, David always knew that every friendship and every one of his blessings had come through Christ’s undeserved kindness. David was deeply aware of his own flaws and failures, but he knew also that Christ’s life, death, and resurrection had brought him to God and that his life was hid with Christ in God. On August 8 he followed Christ one last time, trusting that “when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4).

A celebration of David’s life and God’s faithfulness to him will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 8, 2024, at the Chapel Hill Bible Church, 260 Erwin Rd, Chapel Hill, NC 27514.