PHIPPSBURG – David Otto Solmitz carried forward his father Water’s lifelong commitment to foster communities and a world in which people live harmoniously with one another.

David was born on June 2, 1943, in Cambridge, Mass. He was raised in Brunswick and died peacefully at his home in Phippsburg, on Aug. 3, 2026, with his wife, Jing Ye, by his side.

In the Spring of 1962, he obtained permission from the Town of Brunswick to plant petunias on two new traffic islands at the corner of Maine and Pleasant Streets. Those plantings continue today and now extend down much of Maine Street.

While a student at Bowdoin College, he helped establish Brunswick’s federally funded anti-poverty program and a local chapter of Turn Toward Peace. Later, he co-founded Maine’s Holocaust and Human Rights Center, now located in Augusta.

Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College in 1965 with a degree in history, David left the United States to teach at the École d’Humanité in Switzerland. He launched a long and rewarding teaching career at the creative and experimental international boarding school. Its educational philosophy traced its roots to Germany’s Odenwald School, which his father had attended, and its founder, Paulus Geheeb, relocated the school to Switzerland at the onset of World War II.

While in Switzerland, David married Esther Bircher, a fellow teacher and Swiss native. They had two sons, Oliver and Reuben. Esther was killed in a car accident in 1975, and Reuben, who was seriously injured in the accident, died a year later.

Oliver later earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. After returning to the United States, David briefly taught at the Stockbridge School in Massachusetts before co-founding the New Day School in Mount Vernon, Maine, an experimental alternative elementary school. He then taught social studies at Madison High School in Madison for 30 years. Later he taught at Thomas College and Waterville Community College.

At Madison High School, David was a beloved—and at times controversial—teacher. He organized Tolerance Day at the school on Jan. 22, 1985. When school officials canceled the event because one of the scheduled speakers, Dale McCormick of the Maine Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance, had been invited to speak, David filed a lawsuit. The case attracted national attention and sparked public debate over a three-month period.

In 1977, David married Doris Hobaugh. They had a daughter, Sonnet, and David adopted Doris’s son, Justin. They divorced in 1993.

During a sabbatical in 1992-1993, David taught English at Shantou University in Shantou, Guangdong Province, China. There, he met his future wife, Jing Ye, who was a member of the university’s faculty. Together they raised their daughter, May Aihua Ye, in Waterville, Maine. May earned a bachelor’s degree in piano performance and later became a Reconstructionist rabbi.

David’s commitment to education also found expression through his writing. He wrote regularly for the Waterville Morning Sentinel and occasionally for newspapers in Portland, Bangor, and Brunswick. He authored three books: “Schooling for Humanity: When Big Brother Isn’t Watching (2001)”; “Piecing Scattered Souls: Maine, Germany, Mexico, China, and Beyond” (2011), a memoir exploring his parents’ survival of the Holocaust, family history, and the interconnectedness of lives across continents; and the novel “Ilse’s Fate” (2015).

David’s lifelong efforts to deepen understanding of the Holocaust led to his invitation to deliver the keynote address at the 2018 Commemoration of the Liberation at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site in Dachau, Germany, where his father had once been imprisoned. David was the first child of Holocaust survivors to serve as keynote speaker at the annual event.

In retirement, David devoted himself to capturing the beauty of the natural world through drawing, photography, watercolor painting, writing, and gardening. A prolific artist, he found inspiration everywhere—from the Swiss Alps to the coast of Midcoast Maine, including Popham Beach, Pennellville, Small Point, Maquoit Bay, and Bunganuc. He also enjoyed hiking, music, reading, and collecting model buses and trains.

David was predeceased by his parents, Walter Moritz Solmitz and Elly Reis Solmitz; his first wife, Esther Bircher; and his son, Reuben Solmitz.

He is survived by his wife of 33 years, Jing Ye; his children, Oliver Solmitz, Justin Solmitz, Sonnet Solmitz, and May Ye; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A memorial service honoring David’s life is not currently planned.

He asked to be remembered by taking an appreciative walk in nature, rereading a favorite book, visiting a museum, creating art,

or making a donation

in his honor to

Jewish Voice for Peace:

https://jvp.donorsupport.co/page/solmitzmemorial