Lessons in art and life: remembering David Leathers

BioCentury Chairman Karen Bernstein celebrates an industry icon and friend

I remember very well the first time I met David Leathers. Dave Flores and I had just founded BioCentury and, while I knew most of the people in what was then a much smaller industry, David was one of the few key players who I had never met.

I was sitting alone at a table at a conference in San Diego, having breakfast, reading the newspaper and contemplating how I would introduce myself to a man who was even then a legend in the industry — when who should walk up to me but David himself. He opened by saying, “I’ve been wanting to meet you,” and asking if he could sit with me.

And thus began a beautiful, 30+ year friendship with a man who was kind, thoughtful, wise, the consummate gentleman, but also one with a hilariously biting wit and no tolerance for fools.

In addition to our shared love of biotech, we shared a love of art — though his taste ran more to the traditional and mine to the more contemporary. Despite those differences, David gave me one of the best pieces of art advice I’ve ever gotten (and possibly, one that my Dave wishes I’d never heard).

I was in London window shopping back in the days when BioCentury was new and my personal budget was rather small. I saw a gorgeous painting — one that still haunts my dreams — that was far, far beyond my means. I left it hanging in the gallery, but talked to David about how it haunted me. His advice: when you see a piece of art that you truly love, buy it even if you can’t afford it.

I’ve done that a few times since (sorry, Dave) and we’ve never, ever regretted those pieces. They touch our hearts, just as David touched the heart of everyone with the good luck to come within his orbit.

I’m grateful that a couple of years ago we had the opportunity to spend time with David and his wonderful wife Amanda at their home in Marrakech. It’s a time we shall always cherish.

Goodbye, my friend.

David Leathers, one of the biotech industry’s early investors who helped build Abingworth into a leading life sciences VC, passed away Jan. 17.