Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center (Montgomery County) founding board member, AT&T and Southwestern Bell (SBC Global) industry veteran, and Rotarian and 2004–2005 Rotary Centennial President of Sugar Land David Lee Shaw has passed on to his life with the Creator, Thursday, February 16, 2023.

David is survived by his loving wife Karen.

Karen Kalajian Shaw and David Shaw – married for thirty-seven years – possess a Methodist Christian faith, attending Sugar Land Methodist Church / Sugar Land First United Methodist Church for the past twelve years, where they have been active members of the Questors Sunday School Class – an extension of their family.

David Shaw was the second of five children of Hazel McKenzie Shaw and Cyrus Jennings and was born July 9, 1935 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Music was an important part of David’s life. He played the trumpet in the North Little Rock High School band, and later the french horn in the orchestra. He and his siblings formed a classical band from early childhood that performed hymns for many audiences.

David also leaves behind sister Shirley, brother Paul, sisters-in-law Judy Shaw and Gail Babula, daughters Mindy Faulkner and Julie Ramzel, son David Kalajian, grandchildren Jillian Vermeulen, Chris Shaw, Emily Quick, Jack Ramzel, Alex Ramzel, and Sofia Jatskevich Kalajian, great-grandchildren Marley, Vivienne, Cypress, and Fern Vermeulen, and Carli and Camille Shaw, nephews Bruce and Gary Cheek, Mike, Greg, and Brian, nieces Brenda Boyce, Paula Steele, and Kelly Shaw, and many grand- and great-grand nieces and nephews and Palina Jatskevich. David’s parents – Hazel and Cyrus – preceded him.

An Illustrious Career And Big Heart

David Lee Shaw served for many years as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children and helped with the American Heart Association as well. Shaw was one of the community leaders who helped found the Houston Museum of Natural Science at Sugar Land.

With his future wife Karen Kalajian, David produced a project management process, Projex© which saved hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for information technology and telecommunications firms. As a Rotarian, he helped push for more community-service projects in Sugar Land and the Greater Houston area. Ten years ago, Karen and David helped raise over 2.2 million dollars to renovate a gymnasium for inmates at a minimum- to maximum-security prison in Rosharon, near Fort Bend County.

David Shaw had graduated in 1957 with a bachelor of science in journalism from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, three hours northwest of Little Rock. In his senior year at the university, he was the editor of the Arkansas Razorbacks yearbook and achieved national recognition for its excellence.

Since their retirement in 1998, Karen and David have traveled extensively with annual trips to Europe and visits to Russia, Mexico, Canada, the Hawaiian Islands and numerous excursions in the continental United States including New York City and a 7500-mile, 7-week tour of the western states and parks in 2013.

Sugar Land Methodist Church is situated at 431 Eldridge Road in the city of Sugar Land, Texas and is a full member of the Wesleyan Covenant Association. The church, known until recently as the Sugar Land First United Methodist Church, passed a ninety-percent vote in October 2022 to depart from the left-leaning United Methodist Church headquartered in Washington, D.C. Sugar Land Methodist Church is deliberating procedures to join up with the Global Methodist Church.

 David Lee Shaw was a founding member of the Space Center Rotary Club in Clear Lake (Galveston Bay Area, Greater Houston) which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2014 and honored Shaw as its sole surviving founder.

 A celebration of David Lee Shaw’s life will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 18, 2023 at Sugar Land Methodist Church (431 Eldridge Road, City of Sugar Land, Texas 77479). In lieu of flowers, donations to honor David Lee Shaw can be made to Sugar Land Methodist Church, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, Child Advocates of Fort Bend County, or a charity of your choice.