Chatsworth Man Injured in Boating Accident Dies

A Chatsworth man who was severely injured in an Arizona boating accident that killed his wife earlier this month has died, a Phoenix hospital official said Sunday.

David Blender, 43, was pronounced dead Saturday afternoon after he lost his battle to recover from injuries suffered Aug. 7, said Robin Cook, a spokeswoman at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix.

Cook declined to elaborate. Blender’s friends and relatives said he succumbed to massive kidney and lung damage.

Blender and his wife, Nancy Blender, 44, were alone in a boat on Lake Powell when they slammed into several large rocks, officials and friends said.

Nancy Blender was pronounced dead at the scene. David Blender was hospitalized in critical condition.

The Blenders, who were near the end of a weeklong vacation on a houseboat with their two children, Allison, 12, and Zachary, 7, and two other families “were having the time of their lives,” Allan Kassan, a family friend, said Sunday.

The couple had left the houseboat, which was anchored in a narrow cove, in an 18-foot boat to buy groceries.

“Nobody saw the accident so nobody knows what caused them to hit the rocks,” said Kassan, who was the first person to reach the accident scene after hearing the crash.

“When we got to the boat, David was conscious and in a lot of pain,” Kassan said. “All he kept repeating was, ‘How is Nancy?’ ”

The Blenders’ children were nearby with friends at the time of the accident.

Friends and family described David Blender, a partner in the Woodland Hills firm of Stanard, Blender & Schwartz, as a successful business and tax attorney who was loved by his clients.

“They constantly called the hospital after the accident,” said Jim Fischer, Blender’s brother-in-law. “When’s the last time a client called to find out about the health of their attorney?”

Nancy Blender, a homemaker, was a volunteer at the Temple Ahavat Shalom and at the Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School, both in Northridge.

Friends and relatives said the Blenders were a caring couple and devoted parents. In a February 1994 Times article on homeowners who suffered damage in the Northridge earthquake, David Blender said that for his family’s sake, he wanted his home to be rebuilt as safe as possible regardless of the cost.

“He had that house rebuilt to withstand an 8.0 quake,” Fischer said. “There was nothing more important to him than family.”

Services for Nancy Blender were held last Tuesday. Burial was at Mt. Sinai Cemetery in Burbank.

A memorial service for David Blender is scheduled at noon Tuesday at Temple Ahavat Shalom, 18200 Rinaldi Place. Burial will follow at Mt. Sinai Cemetery in Burbank at 2 p.m.