David Pritchett, Defender of Steelhead Trout and All Wildlife, Dies at 59

David Pritchett, a lover of creeks, fish, and wildlife and a former Santa Barbara City Council candidate, died on August 2 at the age of 59 in Reno, Nevada. His wife, Kathryn Savage, noted in a social media post that “He passed peacefully, without pain, with our family holding his hands. If such a thing exists, he had a good death.”

In Santa Barbara, Pritchett was known for his thorny, outspoken manner while serving on the city’s creeks advisory commission and on the commission for transportation and circulation. He was in favor of creating conditions to induce steelhead to thrive, and encouraging alternative transportation, safer conditions on Milpas Street, and “traffic-calming” devices like bulb-outs, all hot issues during the 2009 campaign.

Locally, Pritchett might be best known for being the campaign manager of Cathy Murillo’s bid to be elected to the Santa Barbara City Council in 2011 and her mayoral race in 2018. Both campaigns were successful. Pritchett himself ran unsuccessfully for council in 2009. They were married at the time but divorced a few years later.