Camarillo, CA – David DePaolo, founder, president and chief executive officer of WorkCompCentral, died on Sunday. He was 56.
DePaolo was riding his motorcycle – a Honda 250 that he had nicknamed “The Sewing Machine” – in the Santa Monica Mountains near Malibu Hills, California, on Sunday afternoon. He veered right into the shoulder of Yerba Buena Road, hitting a dirt embankment shortly after 4 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.
The cause of the accident and DePaolo’s death was still under investigation Monday.
DePaolo’s sudden departure shocked workers’ compensation professionals, many of whom had known him as a Southern California defense attorney before he launched WorkCompCentral in 1999.
Mark Walls, vice president for communications and strategic analysis at Safety National, said in a post on LinkedIn that DePaolo was a “champion for positive change in the workers’ compensation industry.”
“Dave challenged the status quo and questioned things that didn’t make sense,” Walls said. “You may not have always agreed with Dave, but you had to always respect him for speaking his mind and having the best intentions.”
DePaolo obtained a Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law in 1984, a Masters in Business Administration from California Lutheran University in 1997 and a Bachelor of Arts in English from San Diego State University in 1981. He practiced as a workers’ compensation defense attorney for Miller & Folse, Adelson Testan Brundo & Popalardo, and as a sole practitioner, before founding WorkCompCentral.
DePaolo is survived by his wife, Anne; daughter, Nichole; and son, Anthony.
Funeral services had not been arranged as of late Monday, a company official said.
Source: WorkCompCentral