David Lazaroff, Founder
Before David Lazaroff founded Holistic Community Living, he had a career in Internet technology. David received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology and became a graduate of the High Technology MBA program at Northeastern University in Boston. He was Director of Engineering and Quality in manufacturing environments, lead consultant for an Internet technology consulting firm, and a Senior Systems Architect for a government agency.
David started caring for the elderly and frail when he was eleven years old. His grandmother was diagnosed with colon cancer, and his grandparents moved in with his family. David watched attentively, as his mother, a nurse, exemplified home care as a natural occurrence. Even at eleven, David was able to rise above the offensiveness of sickness and pain, and instead, experience a profound feeling of love and gratitude. Often, David's grandmother would refuse pain medications explaining, “I want to think clearly and see my grandchildren,” demonstrating the priorities David later adopted.
In 2004, David's friend, Carl, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Carl was only sixty, yet he had no immediate family. Out of love and concern for Carl, David took on the many legal issues to support Carl’s cognitive decline, and obtained durable general and medical powers of attorney.
It was David’s mission to find a small residential care home for Carl. One with a philosophy aligned to his experience of the care of his grandparents; a home atmosphere where the inconveniences and stresses of disease and decline are small compared to the presence of love and compassion felt by the givers and receivers of care.
While David searched for this home, he served as a board member of an assisted living facility, and then became President of the board. He knew he was never going to find the kind of integrity, consciousness and love he wanted in a home –– for Carl and other elderly men and women –– unless he created one of his own. So, he did: Holistic Community Living in Denver. The rest is history.